f 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

PRESENTED  BY 

PROF.  CHARLES  A.  KOFOID  AND 
MRS.  PRUDENCE  W.  KOFOID 


THE 

INFLUENCE 

OF 

CIVIC  LIFE,  SEDENTARY  HABITS, 

jaro 
INTELLECTUAL  REFINEMENT, 

ON 

HUMAN  HEALTH,  AND  HUMAN  HAPPINESS; 

IXCLUDING 

AN  ESTIMATE 

OF  THE 

BALANCE  OF  ENJOYMENT  AND  SUFFERING 

1ST  THE 

DIFFERENT  GRADATIONS  OF  SOCIETY. 


BY  JAMES  JOHNSON,  ESQ. 

Surgeon  to  His  Royal  Highness  the  Duke  of  CLARENCE;  Author  of  the 
"  Influence  of  Tropical  Climates  on  European  Constitutions," — of  a 
"  Practical  Treatise  on  Derangements  of  the  Liver,  Digestive  Organs, 
and  Nervous  System," — and  Editor  of  the  "  Medico-Chirurgical  Journal.; 
«r  Quarterly  Register  of  Medical  and  Surgical  Science." 


Et  mores  Hominum  multoram  vidit  et  urbes. 


He  studied  from  the  Life, 


And  in  the  Original  perus'd  Mankind. 


AMERICAN  FKOM  THK  LONDOX  (OPT. 

PHILADELPHIA: 
PRINTED  FOR  THOMAS  HOPE. 

-HEP   BY  MATHEW  CARET  AlfD  SON,  THOMAS  DOBSOV,    AJTD  MOSES  THO.HAS. 
1820. 


T    TOW.Y,  PRIKTEB. 


IB.  ,        $ 


! 


PREFACE. 


THE  practical  inferences  contained  in  the 
following  Essay  form  a  part  of  the  result  of 
twenty-one  years'  extensive  observation  of 
Man,  in  all  stages  of  civilization  and  refine- 
ment, from  the  Savage  of  Nicobar  to  the 
Philosopher  of  Europe.  During  the  above 
period,  as  Human  Health  was  the  Author's 
primary  object  of  study,  so  the  Influences 
of  Climate  and  modes  of  life  on  that  health, 
were  important  subjects  of  investigation. — 
The  first  part  of  this  interesting  inquiry  [In- 
fluence of  Climate]  has  already  passed  the 
ordeal  of  public  opinion  and  reception,  in  a 
manner  that  can  leave  but  little  doubt  in  the 
Author's  mind  respecting  the  fate  of  the  pre- 
sent Work. 


IV 


As  he  took  the  pains  to  observe,  so  has 
he  claimed  the  privilege  to  think  for  himself; 
and  if  he  has  made  no  allusion  to  any  man's 
writings  on  the  subject  of  this  Essay,  it  is 
simply  because  he  is  not  indebted  to  any  man's 
ideas  or  experience  in  its  construction. 

The  mass  of  observations,  on  which  his 
positions  are  founded,  were  collected  in  ac- 
tive scenes  of  life,  during  personal  visitations 
in  many  of  the  largest  cities  and  societies 
of  the  world;  and  a  considerable  proportion 
of  the  morbid  influences  here  delineated  have 
been  severely  felt,  in  person,  by  the  Author. 
They  are  not,  therefore,  the  creatures  of  ima- 
gination, or  the  theories  of  the  closet.  They 
are  promulgated  under  the  sole  patronage  of 
Nature  and  truth.  The  Author's  immortal 
namesake  (Dr.  Johnson)  has  indeed  remarked, 
that — "  truth  is  feeble  when  it  stands  alone." 
The  writer  of  this  Essay  has  not  hitherto  found 
it  so.  Truth  is  immutable,  and  consequently 
cannot  be  feeble.  Like  a  solid  tower  or  pyra- 
mid, it  may  be  immersed  and  concealed,  for 


a  lime,  in  the  mist  of  ignorance  or  prejudice; 
but  the  light  of  reason  ultimately  dispels  the 
cloud,  and  the  structure  hursts  upon  our  view, 
unsullied  and  unshaken. 

In  this,  as  in  the  Author's  other  two  Essays, 
on  "  Tropical  Climates,"  and  "  Derangements 
of  the  Liver,  Digestive  Organs,  and  Nervous 
System,"  he  has  endeavoured  to  render  his 
ideas  and  his  language  intelligible  to  all,  with- 
out, in  any  one  instance,  descending  from  the 
dignity  of  a  philosophical  discussion. 

Every  individual,  who  has  had  the  misfor- 
tune to  exchange  a  state  of  health  for  that  of 
sickness,  will  be  able  to  appreciate  the  utility 
of  a  work  in  which  the  preventive  checks  to 
disease  are  clearly  unfolded,  and  legitimately 
deduced  from  actual  and  extensive  observa- 
tion. And  as  the  Author  is  not  aware  that 
any  work  has  been  expressly  written  on  the 
important  subject  of  the  following  Essay,  he 
confidently  trusts  that  he  shall  hereby  render 
some  service  to  the  community  at  large,  but 


VI 

more  particularly  to  his  fellow  citizens  in  this 
houndless  and  luxurious  metropolis.  That  a 
candid  examination  of  the  principles,  and  a 
moderate  adoption  of  the  precepts  here  in- 
culcated, would  contribute  greatly  to  the  miti- 
gation of  human  sufferings,  and  the  preserva- 
tion of  human  health,  is  the  firm  belief,  and 
the  ardent  hope  of 


THE  AUTHOR, 


Xo.  1,  Albany  Court  Yard,  Piccadilly, 
October  the  1st,  1818. 


TABLE   OF   CONTENTS. 


INTRODUCTORY  Observations  on  the  impulse  to  Civic  As- 
sociation -  - 

CHAP.  I. 

Influence  of  Civic  Life,  sedentary  Habits,  and  intellec- 
tual Refinement,  on  the  Organic  System  and  its 
Functions  ...  .  16 

SECTION  I.     On  the  Digestive  Organs. 

SUBSECTION  1.     Through  the  Medium  of  Food        -  16 

Balance  of  Enjoyment  in  Food  28 

— — —  2.    Influence  of  Civic  Life,  &c,  on  the  Di- 
gestive   Organs,    through   the  Me- 
dium of  Drink  31 
Parallel  of  Enjoyment  and  Suffering  in 

Drink     -  39 
— -  3.    Influence  of  Civic  Life,  &c.  on  the   Di- 
gestive  Organs,    through    the    Me- 
dium of  Air    -                                            40 
Balance  of  Enjoyment  in  respect  to  Air        43 
4.     Influence  of  Civic  Life,  &c.  on  the  Di- 
gestive   Organs,   through    the    Me- 
dium of  sedentary  Habits        -  44 
_  5.    Influence  of  Civic  Life,  &c.  on  the  Di- 
gestive  Organs,    through  the    Me- 
dium of  Mental  Emotions  46 
.           6.    Influence  of  Civic  Life,  &c.  on  the  Di- 
gestive   Organs,  through    the  Me- 
dium of  late  Hours                           -        50 
7.     Influence  of  Civic  Life,  &c.  on  the  Di- 
gestive   Organs,  through    the   Me- 
dium of  Medicine  -        -  51 
Balance  of  Enjoyment  and  Suffering  in 

Medicine        ....  57 


Vlii  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 

SECTION  II. 
Influence  of  Civic  Life,  sedentary  Habits,  and  intellectual 

Refinement,  on  the  Heart  and  Circulating  Vessels    -        59 
SUBSECTION  1.     Influence    of    Civic   Life,    &c.  on  the 
Heart,  through  the  Medium  of  the 
Digestive  Organs    -  61 

2.    Influence    of   Civic  Life,  &c.    on    the 

Heart,  through  the  Medium  of  the 

Skin       -  68 

•» 3.    Influence   of  Civic   Life,    &c.    on    the 

Heart,  through  the  Medium  of  the 
Passions         -  71 

SECTION  III. 
influence,  of  Civic  Life,  sedentary  Habits ,  and  intellectual 

Refinement,  on  the  Lungs  and  Glandular  System     -        75 

CHAP.  II. 
Influence  of  Civic  Life,  sedentary  Habits,  and  intellectual 

Refinement,  on  the  Animal  or  Muscular  System        -        78 

CHAP.  III. 
Influence  of  Civic  Life,  sedentary  Habits,  and  intellectual 

Refinement,  on  the  Brain  and  Nervous  System         -        85 

SECTION  I. 
Influence  of  Civic  Life,  &TC.  on  the  Brain  and  Nervous 

System,  through  the  Medium  of  the  Digestive  Organs        89 
SUBSECTION  1.     Influence  of    Civic   Life,    &c.    on   the 
Brain  and  Nervous   System,  through 
the   Medium  of  the  Liver  in  parti- 
cular -  93 

2.    Influence   of  Civic    Life,    &c*.    on  the 

Brain  and  Nervous  System,  through 

the  Medium  of  the  Heart   ••  96 

SECTION  II. 
Influence  of  Civic  Life,  $c.  on  the  Brain  and  Nervous 

System,  through  the  Medium  of  the  Passions    -  98 
Prevention  or  Cure         --.....       106 
Balance  of  Enjoyment  and  Suffering  in  respect  to  the  In- 
tellectual System    -        - 109 


THE 


INFLUENCE 


OF 

CIVIC  LIFE,  SEDENTARY  HABITS, 

AND 
INTELLECTUAL  REFINEMENT, 

ON 
HUMAN  HEALTH  AND  HUMAN  HAPPINESS. 


IN  all  ages  Man  has  evinced  a  gregarious  im- 
pulse. '  As  most  animals  do  the  same,  and  as  the 
lower  and  weaker  orders  of  these  seem  to  associate 
for  the  sake  of  mutual  defence,  a  similar  object  has 
been  considered  the  reason  of  our  species  uniting 
and  congregating  in  cities  and  societies.  It  would 
not  appear,  however,  that  fear  is  the  principal 
operating  cause  of  this  impulse,  either  in  man  or 
animals.  In  the  bosom  of  civilized  society,  and 
in  the  security  of  peace,  we  see  this  powerful  in- 
clination to  associate,  unfolded  in  every  stage  of 
B 


10 


life,  from  the  cradle  to  the  grave.  It  must,  there- 
fore, be  a  dictate  of  Nature  and  Reason,  for  a 
contrary  disposition  is  one  of  the  characteristics  of 
an  insane  mind. 

Since  Man  is  led  to  this,  as  well  as  to  all  other 
objects,  by  his  passions,  it  is  necessary  to  trace 
and  distinguish  these,  in  order  to  ascertain  the 
physical  effects  of  civilization  and  refinement  on 
the  corporeal  fabric,  in  congregated  masses  of  soci- 
ety. This  is  an  essential  part  of  the  investigation ; 
for  we  shall  find,  that  the  same  springs  of  action 
which  first  draw  men  together,  operate  afterwards 
with  increased  power,  as  the  magnet  attracts 
stronger  in  proportion  as  it  comes  nearer  its  object, 
or  as  the  velocity  of  a  falling  body  is  accelerated 
as  it  descends. 

What,  then,  is  the  prime  mover  towards  civic 
association?  The  INTERCHANGE  OF  IDEAS,  or  THE 

DESIRE  OF  INTELLECTUAL  INTERCOURSE.       This    is 

not  only  the  strongest,  but  the  earliest,  the  latest, 
and  the  steadiest  impulse  or  propensity  implanted 
in  the  mind  of  Man — and  of  Woman  too.  Love, 
ambition,  avarice,  has  each  its  sera ;  but  the  collo- 
quial cacoethes  begins  with  the  infant's  prattle,. 


11 


and  only  ceases  Avhen  speech  and  hearing  are  ob- 
literated by  extreme  age  or  infirmity.  To  be  con- 
vinced of  this  truth,  we  have  but  to  look  around 
us  in  the  book  of  Nature. — We  shall  there  see  it 
exemplified  in  every  station  of  life,  from  the  court 
to  the  cottage — from  the  crowd  of  the  Exchange 
to  the  study  of  the  Philosopher,  who  converses 
with  the  dead  and  the  living  through  the  medium 
of  books.  Every  where  Man  seeks  opportunities 
for  collecting  or  transmitting  ideas.  The  human 
mind  is  a  vast  emporium,  wherein  the  rude  ma- 
terials, conveyed  by  the  external  senses,  are  ma- 
nufactured, and,  as  in  the  kaleidoscope,  perpetu- 
ally revolved  into  new  forms  and  configurations. 

In  nova  fert  animus  mutatas  dicere  formas, 
Corpora. 

The  exchange  of  these  manufactures  secyns  to 
be  the  universal  commerce  of  mankind — with  this 
peculiarity,  that  we  are  generally  more  desirous  to 
bestow  than  to  receive. 

This  parent  impulse  having  drawn  men  together, 
a  host  of  new  passions  were,  in  consequence,  de- 
veloped, if  not  generated.  Emulation,  ambition, 
envy,  hatred,  jealousy,  &c.  were  the  inevitable  re- 


12 


suits  of  the  laws,  regulations,  and  clashing  inte- 
rests, which  arose  out  of  this  state  of  things ;  and 
which  in  proportion  as  civilization  and  refinement 
advance,  levy  such  severe  contributions  on  our 
health  and  happiness.  This  last  investigation  is 
the  great  object  of  the  present  work,  and  is  one 
of  high  import  and  interest  to  every  class  of  so- 
ciety. 

In  Man  we  ran  clearly  distinguish  three  leading 
systems  or  series  of  parts,  with  their  appropriate 
functions.  The  first  is  the  organic  system,  compre- 
hending the  heart  and  vessels  which  circulate  the 
blood  and  other  fluids — the  lungs  the  digestive  or- 
gans and  the  glands.  These  are  not  under  the  go- 
vernance of  the  will,  and  perform  their  allotted 
functions,  whether  we  sleep  or  wake.  The  second 
class  comprehends  all  the  voluntary  muscles,  by 
means  of  which  we  transport  ourselves  from  place 
to  place— construct  our  edifices  and  manufactures — 
lay  waste  empires  in  war,  or  cultivate  the  fields  in 
peace !  This  is  termed  the  animal  system.  Last 
of  all  comes  the  sentient  and  intellectual  system, 
yiz.  the  brain  and  nerves.  The  innumerable  ram- 
ifications of  the  nerves,  spread  over  the  surface  of 
the  body,  and  crowded  into  the  tissues  composing 


the  different  organs  of  sense,  convey  to  the  brain, 
like  faithful  videttes,  intelligence  of  every  thing 
that  passes  in  the  world  around  us.  From  these 
impressions,  the  mind  forms  its  ideas,  its  judg- 
ments, and  its  determinations.  In  the  develop- 
ment of  this  system  Man  excels  all  other  animals, 
as  much  as  the  sun  excels,  in  size  and  splendour, 
the  meanest  planet. 

Now  these  three  systems,  although  apparently 
independent  of  each  other,  are  yet  linked  in  the 
strictest  bonds  of  sympathy  and  harmony,  and  are 
perpetually  influenced  one  by  another.  Thus,  sup- 
pose a  few  grains  of  emetic  tartar  are  introduced 
into  the  stomach,  a  part  of  the  organic  system. 
As  soon  as  nausea  takes  place,  the  animal  powers,' 
or  voluntary  muscles  are  enfeebled,  and  the  intel- 
lectual system,  (or  that  through  which  the  soul  is 
manifested)  even  of  the  proudest  hero,  feels  the 
shock,  and  lies  prostrate  with  its  suffering  compa- 
nions in  the  organic  and  animal  life.  Shakspeare, 
that  accurate  observer  of  Nature,  repeatedly  ex- 
emplifies  this  remark,  and  particularly  in  the  cele- 
brated dialogue  between  Brutus  and  Cassius,  re- 
lative to  Caesar. 


14 

He  had  a  fever  when  he  was  in  Spain , 
And  when  the  fit  was  on  him  I  did  mark 

How  he  did  shake 

His  coward  lips  did  from  their  colour  fly  ; 
Ay,  and  that  tongue  of  his  that  bade  the  Romans 
Mark  him,  and  write  his  speeches  in  their  books, 
Alas  !  it  cried — "  Give  me  some  drink  Titinius," 
As  a  sick  girl. 

Let  a  sudden  gust  of  passion  or  sense  of  fear,  on 
the  other  hand,  disturb  the  intellectual  system  ; — 
the  heart  palpitates,  the  function  of  digestion  is 
suspended — and  the  voluntary  muscles  tremble— 
all  through  sympathy  with  the  great  sensorium  or 
seat  of  thought.  In  short,  health  and  happiness 
(for  although  we  may  have  health  without  happi- 
ness, it  is  impossible  that  we  can  have  happiness 
without  health)  depend  on  a  just  equilibrium  and 
harmony  between  the  functions  of  these  three  sys- 
tems; and  whatever  disturbs  this  harmony,  by  im- 
pairing the  functions  of  any  one  of  these  systems, 
deranges  directly  or  consecutively  the  whole  fabric, 
intellectual  as  well  as  corporeal. 

And  here,  to  prevent  misconception,  I  take  oc- 
casion to  state  what  I  mean  by  intellectual  system. 
1  protest  against  the  doctrine  of  materialism  from  a 
conviction  of  its  erroneous  foundation  and  pernici- 


15 

ous  influence  on  society.  Mind  I  consider  as  dis- 
tinct from  matter.  It  is  an  invisible  agent,  mani- 
festing itself  solely  through  the  medium  of  the  cor- 
poreal organs.  When  these  last  are  deranged,  the 
mental  manifestations  must  also  be  deranged ;  but 
the  mind  itself  remains  unchanged,  unassailable, 
imperishable.  Even  in  insanity,  it  is  not  the  mind 
which  is  diseased.  Some  portion  of  the  brain  is 
deranged,  and  then  the  mind  can  no  more  manifest 
itself  sanely,  than  a  musician  can  bring  forth  har- 
monious notes  from  an  untuned  instrument.  The 
mind,  as  it  is  not  material,  neither  is  it  subject  to 
disease  or  death — if  we  once  admit  that  it  is  subject 
to  the  one,  we  must  inevitably  come  to  the  con- 
clusion that  it  is  liable  to  the  other  !  With  the  es- 
sence or  nature  of  mind  we  are,  and  ever  will  be 
ignorant.  It  is  with  the  corporeal  organs,  through 
which  it  reveals  its  actions,  that  we  have  to  do, 
and  which  I  designate  by  the  term  intellectual 
system. 


CHAPTER  I. 


INFLUENCE  OF  CIVIC  LIFE,  SEDENTARY  HABITS,  AND  IN- 
TELLECTUAL REFINEMENT,  ON  THE  ORGANIC  SYSTEM 
AND  ITS  FUNCTIONS. 


SECTION  I. 

ON  THE  DIGESTIVE  ORGANS. 

SUBSECTION  I. 
Through  the  Medium  of  Food. 

THE  first  law  of  Nature  is,  "  Eat  or  be  eaten." 
Life  can  only  subsist  by  death.  Every  organized 
being,  and  particularly  Man,  slays  thousands  of 
other  organized  beings,  either  in  the  vegetable  or 
animal  kingdom,  to  build  up  or  maintain  his  own 
corporeal  fabric.  The  doctrine  of  transmigration, 
therefore,  is  not  entirely  visionary. 


17 


With  ceaseless  change  the  restless  atoms  pass, 
From  li'e  to  life  a  transmigrating  mass; 
Hence  the  same  org'ans  which  to  day  compose 
The  poisonous  henbane  or  the  fragrant  rose 
May,  with  to-morrow's  sun,  new  forms  compile, 
Frown  in  the  Hero— in  the  Beauty  smile  ! 

A  single  glance  over  the  various  nations  of  the 
earth  will  convince  us  that  Man  is  completely  an 
omnivorous  animal.  The  human  stomach  will 
draw  nutriment  from  the  ground  we  tread  on,  when 
imbued  with  animal  and  vegetable  exuviae;  and 
from  every  thing  else  between  this  ottomaque  fare 
and  that  of  the  most  pampered  London  Epicure ! 
This  wonderful  power  of  the  digestive  apparatus 
to  assimilate  every  thing  which  air,  earth,  or  ocean 
yields,  to  the  support  of  Man,  is  a  striking  proof  of 
the  wisdom  as  well  as  the  beneficence  of  our  Cre- 
ator. But  it  is  most  erroneous  in  principle,  and 
pernicious  in  practice,  to  infer  from  this,  that  be- 
cause we  can  eat  all  things,  we  therefore  may  eat 
all  things  with  impunity.  And  here  one  of  the 
evils  of  civilization  becomes  manifest.  Not  only 
is  every  thing  that  can  allure  the  sense,  or  stimu- 
late the  appetite,  brought  to  view  in  congregated 
society;  but  the  "  dishes  tortured  from  their  na- 
tive taste"  are  indulged  in  by  those  who,  of  all 
others,  are  least  capable  of  digesting  them.  The 
0 


18 


ploughman,  exposed  at  all  seasons  to  the  inclemen- 
cies of  the  skies,  and  strenuously  exercising  his 
voluntary  muscles,  might  gormandize  with  safety 
on  alderman's  fare.  But  not  so  the  citizen,  how- 
ever well  trained  in  the  school  of  Epicurus.  His 
sedentary  life,  and  a  host  of  moral  and  physical 
circumstances  around  him,  render  it  a  matter  of 
impossibility  that  repletion  shall  not  succeed  even 
an  apparently  temperate  regimen ;  and  in  reality  this 
repletion,  and  the  irregular  states  of  plethora  which 
thence  result,  characterize  nine-tenths  of  the  dis- 
eases of  civilized  life,  though  they  assume  the 
garb  of  debility,  and  too  often  lead  to  the  most  er- 
roneous and  unsuccessful  methods  of  treatment. 
Every  one,  after  a  full  meal,  especially  of  animal 
food,  with  all  the  etceteras  of  a  civic  table,  must 
have  felt  how  incapacitated  he  was  for  either  men- 
tal or  corporeal  exertion.  It  is  a  law,  indeed,  in 
the  economy  of  the  living  machine,  that  where  any 
one  of  the  three  systems  above  mentioned  is  over- 
exerted or  over-excited,  one  or  both  of  the  other 
two  systems  must  fall  into  a  state  of  irregular  or 
deficient  action.  The  heavy  meal  of  animal  and 
other  food  exemplifies  this  law.  When  the  diges- 
tive organs  and  circulating  vessels  are  strongly  en- 
gaged, the  muscular  and  the  intellectual  systems 


19 


are  indisposed  towards  the  full  exercise  of  their 
functions,  the  greater  portion  of  vital  energy  being 
then  apparently  concentrated  in  the  organic  system, 
the  principal  theatre  of  operations  for  the  time.  On 
the  other  hand,  let  the  animal  system  or  voluntary 
muscles  he  thrown  into  violent  or  unusual  action — 
the  digestive  process  is  diminished  or  even  sus- 
pended, and  the  mind  is  incapable  of  dwelling  in- 
tently on  any  train  of  thought.  Who  could  solve  a 
mathematical  problem  immediately  after  a  furious 
cricket  match?  Again;  Let  a  man  sit  down  to  an 
intricate  calculation,  or  the  investigation  of  an  ab- 
struse literary  subject — nay,  even  to  the  perusal  of 
an  interesting  poem  or  other  effusion  of  genius,  and 
the  appetite  will  be  so  withdrawn,  that  the  hour  of 
dinner  will  be  scarcely  remembered. 

This  law  of  irregular  or  unequal  excitement  of 
the  system,  hitherto  so  much  overlooked,  unfolds 
the  most  important  views  both  in  health  and  dis- 
ease ;  and  he  who  studies  it  deeply,  will  find  there- 
in a  powerful  engine  in  the  healing  art,  and  a 
steady  light  on  his  researches,  both  physical  and 
philosophical. 

But  to  return.     The  evil  consequences  of  reple- 


tion,  or  luxurious  living,  far  exceed  belief,  or  even 
the  calculation  of  the  physician;  for  they  metamor- 
phose themselves  so  artfully,  and  mask  themselves 
so  successfully  behind  unsuspicious  forms  and  plise- 
nomena,  that  they  are  constantly  undermining  the 
constitution,  deceiving  the  patient,  and  misleading 
the  practitioner. 

Observation  has  proved,  that  when  a  stimulating 
substance  is  applied  to  any  part  of  the  body,  inter- 
nally or  externally,  a  sensation  or  irritation  is  first 
produced,  and  then  an  increased  afflux  of  blood  to 
the  vessels  of  the  part.  This  law  has  long  been 
acknowledged;  Ubi  stimulus,  ibi  irritatio — ubi 
irritatio,  ibi  afflvxrus.  The  sensation  or  irritation 
shows,  that  the  nervous  or  sentient  system  of  the 
part  is  first  acted  on:  the  turgescence  evinces,  that 
the  vascular  or  blood-vessel  system  is  next  affected. 
Now,  in  the  present  state  of  society,  and  particu- 
larly of  civic  society,  the  whole  internal  surface  of 
the  digestive  organs  is  daily  stimulated,  in  an  in- 
ordinate degree,  not  only  by  the  poignant  and  com- 
plicated qualities  of  our  food,  but  also  by  the  quan- 
tity* If  there  be  any  one  truth  in  nftfaical  science 
more  firmly  established  than  all  others,  it  is  this  ! 
Let  us  look  around  us,  in  this  great  and  luxurious 


21 


metropolis,  for  instance,  and  we  shall  not  find  one 
in  ten,  whose  digestive  organs  are  in  a  natural 
and  healthy  condition.  The  tint  of  the  eye  and 
countenance,  the  feel  of  the  skin,  the  state  of  the 
tongue,  the  stomach,  the  bile,  and  the  various  eva- 
cuations, offer  to  the  experienced  and  discerning 
physician  the  most  incontestible  proofs  of  the  po- 
sition here  advanced. 

The  tissue  or*  membrane  which  lines  the  diges- 
tive organs  from  the  mouth  downwards,  is  a  secre- 
ting surface,  that  is  constantly  pouring  forth  a 
fluid  which  is  necessary  for  the  digestion  of  the 
food  in  every  stage  of  its  progress.  Now,  when 
any  gland,  or  secreting  surface,  is  over- excited,  the 
fluid  secreted  becomes  unnatural  in  quantity  and 
quality.  It  is  sometimes  diminished,  sometimes 
increased;  but  always  depraved.  This  is  familiar- 
ly exemplified  when  the  mucous  membrane,  lining 
the  nose  and  air-tubes  of  the  lungs,  happens  to  be 
acted  on  by  atmospherical  transitions,  as  in  a  com- 
mon cold.  At  first,  the  membrane  is  dry  and  half 
inflamed;  afterwards  a  more  copious  secretion  than 
usual  comes  pouring  forth,  and  of  so  acrid  a  quality 
as  to  excoriate  the  nose  and  lips  themselves.  It  is  so 
with  the  mucous  membrane  lining  the  stomach  and 


22 


bowels.  When  inordinately  excited  by  the  quality 
or  quantity  of  the  food  and  drink,  the  secretions 
are  irregular  and  morbid,  and  therefore  a  constant 
source  of  irritation  is  generated  in  this  important 
class  of  organs.  This  irritation  is  manifested  by 
some  pain  or  uneasy  sensation  in  the  line  of  the 
digestive  organs ;  irregularity  of  their  functions, 
particularly  of  the  alvine  evacuations  ;  and  an  un- 
natural state  of  the  tongue  and  urine. 

• 

But  with  these  organs  almost  every  part  of  the 
human  system  sympathizes,  and  the  discerning  phy- 
sician can  plainly  detect  their  derangement  in  the 
state  of  the  mind,  the  nerves,  the  muscles,  and  the 
skin.  Let  it  be  remembered,  that  when  any  one  part 
of  the  system  is  inordinately  excited,  some  other 
part  or  parts  are  deprived  of  their  due  share  of  vi- 
tal energy,  as  we  see  every  day  exemplified  in  what 
is  termed  derivation.  Now  when  so  large  a  por- 
tion of  this  vital  energy  is  kept  constantly  concen- 
trated round  the  digestive  apparatus,  it  is  easy  to  see 
that  the  animal  and  intellectual  systems  must  se- 
verely feel  the  loss.  The  shattered  state  of  the 
nerves,  the  irritability  of  the  temper,  and  the  want 
of  tone  in  the  muscles,  which  hourly  present  them- 
selves in  luxurious  and  civic  society,  afford  the 


most  convincing  evidence  of  the  truth  of  these  po- 
sitions. 

This  is  one  view  of  the  affair  ;  but  there  are  va- 
rious others.  It  often  happens,  that  such  is  the 
strength  of  the  constitution,  and  the  efforts  of  Na- 
ture to  counteract  the  morbid  effects  of  repletion. 
that  a  degree  of  robustness  or  corpulency  succeeds 
these  luxurious  habits,  and  thus  the  evil  conse- 
quences are  masked  for  a  time.  But  the  fact  is,  that 
the  superabundant  supply  of  nutrition,  which  is 
poured  into  the  blood-vessel  system,  is  deposited 
in  the  shape  of  fat  ;  Nature  being  unable  to  throw 
it  off  by  other  outlets.  This  deposition  is  only  com- 
paratively salutary ;  and,  in  truth,  the  corpulent  ha- 
bit and  ruddy  complexion  are  too  often  but  the  in- 
dex of  a  morbid  excess  of  health,  and  the  preludes 
to  most  violent  and  dangerous  diseases. 

Another  mode  in  which  Nature  frees  herself,  for 
a  time,  from  the  effects  of  superabundant  nutrition, 
is  by  throwing  out  eruptions  and  other  unsightly 
blotches  on  the  skin,  by  which  means  she  often  saves 
internal  organs  from  a  dangerous  irritation.  This  is 
proved  by  the  certainty  and  safety  with  which  the 
whole  of  these  cutaneous  affections  maybe  speedily 


24 


removed  by  improving  the  state  of  the  digestive  or- 
gans, lessening  the  quantity  and  simplifying  the 
quality  of  the  food,  and  by  the  judicious  use  of  the 
warm  bath.  On  the  other  hand,  when  Nature  is 
interrupted  in  her  work,  and  these  cutaneous  ble- 
mishes are  incautiously  repelled  by  external  ap- 
plications, the  irritation  is  almost  certain  to  fall 
on  some  internal  organ,  and  there  cause  a  pain- 
ful sensation  or  an  inflammatory  action,  accor- 
ding as  the  nervous  or  vascular  structure  of  the 
part  be  predisposed  to  disease.  Thus,  in  one 
constitution,  on  the  repulsion  of  an  eruption  from 
the  skin,  the  irritation  is  transferred  to  the  lungs, 
and  there  excites  pulmonary  consumption.  In 
another,  it  is  transferred  to  the  mucous  membrane 
of  the  stomach,  and  heart-burn,  or  pain  in  the  sto- 
mach, or  indigestion,  or  even  chronic  inflammation 
of  this  organ  may  ensue.  In  a  third,  the  liver  be- 
comes the  seat  of  the  translated  irritation,  and  the 
various  phenomena  of  bilious  or  hepatic  derange- 
ments are  developed.  The  intestines,  the  kidnies. 
nay  the  coverings  of  the  brain  itself,  may,  and 
often  do,  sufier  in  this  way,  with  a  host  of  corre- 
sponding miseries.  All  these,  however,  may  be 
avoided  by  removing  the  cause  or  origin  of  the  cu- 


25 


taneous  eruption,  as  seated  in  the  digestive  organs, 
when  the  effect  will  soon  cease. 

But  among  the  wonderful  variety  of  means  by 
which  Nature  counteracts  the  repletion  resulting 
from  too  much  and  too  rich  food,  stands  GOUT. 
This,  though  a  severe  disease  in  itself,  is  yet  an 
undoubted  remedy  or  preventive  of  numerous  other 
and  more  fatal  ones.  After  a  course  of  luxurious 
living,  of  longer  or  shorter  duration,  according  to 
peculiarity  of  constitution,  the  human  machine  can 
no  longer  bear  the  rich  tide  of  nutriment  which  dai- 
ly flows  through  the  interior  organs,  without  dan- 
ger of  some  of  its  channels  giving  way,  and  sud- 
denly snapping  the  thread  of  life,  as  happens  in 
apoplexy,  the  bursting  of  blood-vessels,  &c.  Na- 
ture, alarmed,  now  adopts  a  severe  but  a  salutary 
measure.  She  generally  gives  notice  of  the  ap- 
proach of  her  operation,  by  first  deranging  the 
function  of  the  stomach,  for  a  few  days,  with  oc- 
casional premonitory  sensations  in  other  parts  of 
the  body,  as  coldness  of  the  feet,  &c.  Then  the 
storm  bursts.  A  paroxysm  of  pain  and  irritation 
is  kindled  up  on  some  extreme  part  of  the  body, 
and  the  whole  constitution  is  kept,  during  a  time, 
in  a  feverish  and  restless  condition,  while  a  daily 
D 


26 


and  critical  discharge  by  the  skin  and  kidneys  re- 
duces the  system  to  a  certain  point  compatible  with 
health,  when  a  calm  ensues — the  functions  of  the 
stomach  and  other  organs  resume  their  accustomed 
tone,  and  the  luxurious  advocate  of  civic  society 
returns  to  the  pleasures  of  the  table  with  renovated 
vigour. 

Woe  to  the  man  who  rashly  interferes  with,  or 
suddenly  checks  this  salutary  process  of  Nature, 
whether  by  internal  or  external  means  !  He  who 
does  so,  has  little  knowledge  of  the  animal  econo- 
my, or  little  concern  for  the  future  welfare  of  the 
patient.  True  it  is,  that  the  operations  of  Nature, 
even  when  they  are  of  a  curative  description,  as 
they  almost  always  are,  must  frequently  be  re- 
strained, regulated,  or  spurred  on,  and  in  this 
consists  the  great  art  of  the  physician.  But  when 
the  pain  and  irritation  of  Gout  are  not  suffered  to 
be  moderately  expended  on  some  member  at  a  dis- 
tance from  the  vital  centre ;  when  a  violent  com- 
motion is  raised  in  the  system  by  internal  remedies ; 
or  when  the  inflammation  is  suddenly  arrested  by 
external  cold,  then,  in  all  probability,  will  the  ir- 
ritation be  transferred  to  some  interior  organ  or  tis- 
sue, and  there  manifest  itself,  at  some  future  day. 


27 


in  the  shape  of  a  chronic  disease,  which  may  bid 
defiance  to  the  powers  of  medicine.  This  consid- 
eration should 

make  us  rather  bear  those  ills  we  have, 
Than  fly  to  others  that  we  know  not  of. 

These  then  are  the  prominent  evils  which,  iu 
civic  society  as  now  constituted,  flow  from  redun- 
dancy and  richness  of  food  combined  with  sedenta- 
ry habits ;  and  a  contemplation  of  them  naturally 
leads  us  to  the  institution  of  a  comparison  or  paral- 
lel of  great  moral  and  physical  interest.  But  first 
let  us  say  a  few  words  on  the  remedies. 

In  my  work  on  {( the  Influence  of  the  Atmos- 
phere," I  have  entered  fully  into  the  nature,  cause, 
and  treatment  of  the  disordered  state  of  the  diges- 
tive organs.  I  may  here  only  observe,  that  pre- 
vention, of  course,  depends  on  temperance,  and  the 
cure  almost  entirely  on  a  well  conducted  course  of 
aperient  medicine,  with  or  without  the  decoction 
of  sarsaparilla.  The  kind  of  aperient  must  depend 
on  the  particular  organ  whose  function  is  most  dis- 
turbed, or  whose  structure  may  be  in  danger.  This 
discrimination  requires  an  accurate  examination  of 
all  the  phenomena,  and  of  the  state  of  the  liver 


28 


and  other  abdominal  organs.     Then  the  cure  will 
proceed  with  ease  and  certainty. 


BALANCE    OF    ENJOYMENT     IN    FOOD. 

Walking  one  evening  in  the  vicinity  of  Gros- 
venor  Square,  I  came  opposite  to  an  area,  from 
Whence  issued  the  most  profuse  and  savoury  odours 
of  every  thing  which  could  at  once  stimulate  and 
gratify  the  human  palate.  An  immense  dinner 
was  in  transitu  from  the  kitchen  to  the  banquet- 
ing room ;  and  leaning  over  the  iron  railings  was 
a  half  starved  and  half  naked  wretch,  apparently 
inhaling  the  rich  steam  from  below,  and  soliciting 
charity  from  the  passenger  at  the  same  time.  A 
tall  and  benevolent  looking  gentleman  stopped  at 
this  moment,  and  seemed  to  contemplate  the  scene. 
Putting  a  small  piece  of  money  in  the  beggar's 
hand,  he  lifted  up  his  eyes  to  Heaven,  and  eja- 
culated in  a  low  voice — "  O  how  unequally  are  the 
gifts  and  enjoyments  of  Nature  distributed  in  this 
world  !"  I  could  not  undeceive  this  gentleman  at 
the  time;  but  should  these  pages  ever  meet  his 


29 


eye,  he  will  probably  acknowledge  that  he  took 
but  a  partial  view  of  the  affair. 

Whatever  support  the  doctrine  of  a  future  state 
of  rewards  and  punishments  may  derive  from  the 
triumpU  of  vice  and  the  oppression  of  virtue  here, 
the  belief  in  a  future  state  of  existence  neither  re- 
quires nor  derives  support  from  the  apparent  ine- 
quality among  mankind,  in  respect  to  happiness  or 
enjoyment.  Although  I  shall  not  attempt  to  prove 
that  all  ranks  are  precisely  on  a  par  on  this  point, 
yet  I  do  maintain  that  they  are  very  nearly  so ; 
and  that  Nature,  indulgent  but  just  to  all  her 
children,  preserves,  by  an  admirable  code  of  laws, 
the  most  surprizing  equilibrium  in  the  balance  of 
enjoyment  of  her  gifts.  A  slight  sketch  of  the 
extremes  will  enable  every  man  of  reflection  and 
observation  to  fill  up  the  outline. 

The  Epicure  sits  down  at  seven  or  eight  o'clock 
in  the  evening  to  a  sumptuous  repast;  but  under 
every  cover  lies  some  source  of  derangement  to  the 
digestive  organs,  which  more  than  counterbalances 
the  voluptuous  sensations  of  the  palate.  The  half 
starved  beggar,  on  the  other  hand,  has  little  more 
than  the  disagreeable  cravings  of  hunger  to  contend 


with — cravings  which  produce  but  few,  and  ward  ofT 
numerous  diseases.  True  it  is,  that  he  may  envy 
the  rich  man's  lot,  and  be  discontented  with  his 
own  ;  but  the  rich  man  lias  little  cause  for  exultation 
here;  for  independent  of  the  train  of  afflictions 
that  result  from  luxury,  the  latter  itself  "  fades 
upon  the  appetite,"  and,  after  a  short  time,  either 
ceases  to  afford  pleasure,  or  destroys  the  capacity 
of  enjoying  it ! 

From  these  two  extremes  the  shades  blend  im- 
perceptibly, till  they  unite  and  form  a  picture  of 
that  comparatively  happy  medium  of  rational  and 
philosophic  temperance  ia  food  which,  while  it  re- 
jects not  the  bounties  and  delicacies  of  nature, 
keeps  a  steady  check  on  the  licentious  appetite, 
and  suffers  not  the  digestive  organs  to  be  goaded 
to  unnatural  exertions  by  the  compound  qualities 
and  redundant  quantities  of  the  necessaries  of  life. 
The  memorable  precept  of  the  Roman  poet,  in  fact, 
is  equally  applicable  to  physiological  comfort,  as 
to  philosophical  happiness. 

Auream  quisquis  mediocritatem 
Diliget  tutus,  caret  obsoleti 
Sordibus  tecti,  caret  invidenda 
Sobrws  Aiila. — 


31 


SUBSECTION  II. 


Influence  of  Civic  Life,  8fc.  on  the  digestive  Or- 
gans, through  the  Medium  of  Drink. 

NATURE  has  plentifully  supplied  the  earth  with 
water,  and  animals  drink  nothing  else  to  quench 
their  thirst — ergo,  says  one  party,  water  alone 
should  constitute  the  human  beverage.  But  says 
another  sect,  why  did  bounteous  Nature  weigh 
down  the  mantling  vine  with  the  swelling  grape,  if 
she  did  not  design  that  man  should  drown  his 
cares  occasionally  in  the  goblet?  It  is  doubtful, 
however,  if  Nature  destined  the  grape  for  fermen- 
tation. Did  this  indulgent  Parent  ever  mean  that 
barley  and  oats  should  be  converted  by  the  Scot 
and  Hibernian  into  whiskey  ?  It  is  certain,  indeed, 
that  civic  association,  or  the  congregation  of  a  peo- 
ple any  where,  has  a  tendency  towards  Bacchanal- 
ian indulgences.  This,  I  conceive,  has  been  the 
case  from  the  very  infancy  of  the  world.  Homer's 
heroes  seldom  meet  together  without  getting  drunk. 


especially  when  they  are  relating  their  own  ex- 
ploits.    Let  Ulysses  himself  confess  it. 

"  Hear  me,  my  friends !  who  this  good  banquet  grace, 

'Tis  sweet  to  play  the  fool  in  time  and  place  ; 

And  wine  can  of  their  wits  the  wise  beguile, 

Make  the  sage  frolic,  and  the  serious  smile  ; 

The  grave  in  merry  measures  frisk  about, 

And  many  a  long-repented  word  come  out ! 

Since  to  be  talkative  I  now  commence, 

Let  wit  cast  off  the  sullen  yoke  of  sense." 

ODTSSET,  b.  xvi. 

The  foregoing  passage  explains  most  correctly 
the  real  source  and  universal  cause  of  intempe- 
rance in  drink.  When  men  assemble  together, 
they  are  anxious  to  please  and  be  pleased.  The 
colloquial  impulse  predominates.  Wine  gives  wit 
to  the  dullest  intellect ;  crowds  the  brain  with 
ideas ;  tips  the  tongue  with  eloquence,  and  illu- 
mines the  eye  with  the  fire  of  expression.  The 
dull  scenes  and  corroding  cares  of  life  are  now 
forgotten,  or  past  dangers  and  difficulties  are  re- 
membered and  related  with  pleasure.  The  future 
is  clothed  in  romantic  anticipations  of  success  and 
happiness — in  short,  a  sort  of  Elysium  opens 
round  the  soul !  Is  it  to  be  wondered  at,  that  man 
should  wish  to  protract  these'  ecstatic  moments; 
or  be  too  often  carried  insensibly  along  the  stream, 


33 


till  he  approached  the  brink,  or  even  precipitated 
himself  into  the  gulph  of  excess  ? 

But  let  us  examine  the  affair  a  little  deeper.  The 
digestive  organs,  to  which  this  inordinate  stimula- 
tion was  applied,  and  through  the  medium  of  which 
this  intellectual  excitement  was  raised,  do  not  fall 
back,  after  such  a  scene,  to  the  healthy  standard, 
or  to  their  usual  integrity  of  function.  No,  indeed. 
The  power  of  digestion  languishes ;  the  appetite  is 
impaired  ;  the  biliary  secretion  is  deranged.  The 
animal  and  intellectual  systems  participate  in  the 
effects  of  this  commotion.  The  muscles  are  en- 
feebled and  tremble.  The  nerves  lose  their  tone. 
The  mind  which,  the  evening  before,  was  all  prow- 
ess, is  in  the  morning  over-run  with  timidity,  or 
clouded  with  horror.  There  is  now  a  collapse  of 
the  system.  The  arteries  of  the  brain  were  tur- 
gid and  distended  with  blood  during  the  excite- 
ment of  the  wine ;  they  are  now  in  an  opposite 
state.  Is  it  to  be  wondered  at,  that  these  alter- 
nate extremes  should  often  lead  to  organic  derange- 
ment of  the  delicate  texture  of  the  brain,  and  end 
in  hypochondriasis  or  mania  itself? 

The  liver  and  brain  are  the  organs,  in  fact, 
E 


34 


which  suffer  most  from  intemperance  in  drink;  and 
it  appears  to  me,  that  this  occurs  more  from  the 
subsec|uent  collapse,  than  from  the  previous  excite- 
ment. After  a  debauch,  the  power  of  the  heart  is 
greatly  weakened.  It  cannot  keep  the  arterial 
system  proportionally  distended,  and  hence  the 
blood  accumulates  in  the  venous  system  ;  or,  in 
other  words,  congestion  in  the  veins  of  the  liver 
and  brain  obtains,  with  great  derangement  of  func- 
tion, ending  ultimately  in  lesion  of  structure  in 
these  organs. 

In  the  LIVER  it  manifests  itself  by  flying  or  un- 
easy sensations  in  the  right  side,  or  across  the  sto- 
mach; flatulence;  acidity;  clay-coloured  evacua- 
tions; sallow  complexion;  mental  despondency: 
fickleness  or  irritability  of  temper;  pink,  or  other 
urinary  sediment;  disagreeable  dreams;  tender- 
ness on  deep  pressure  under  the  margin  of  the 
right  ribs;  occasional  palpitation  or  fluttering  a- 
bout  the  heart,  or  pit  of  the  stomach,  &c.  When 
this  train  of  symptoms  commences  after  irregulari- 
ty of  living,  or  indeed  after  any  mode  of  life,  the 
functions  of  the  liver  and  digestive  organs  are  de- 
rai  ged,  and  there  is  but  one  step  farther  to  organic 
or  incurable  disease.  This  is  the  moment  for  a 


prompt  administration  of  remedies,  particularly 
the  blue  pill,  sarsaparilla,  and  antimonial  aloetic 
medicines.  In  these  cases,  I  have  derived  the 
most  marked  benefit  from  artificial  Harrowgate 
water}  which  is  easily  prepared  from  sulphate  of 
magnesia,  super-tartrite  of  potash,  and  sulphuret 
of  potash. 

In  the  brain,  it  manifests  its  baneful  effects  by 
head- aches;  flushings  of  the  face;  throbbings  of 
the  temporal  arteries  while  lying  in  bed;  tremors 
of  the  muscles,  &c.  These  warn  us  that  hypo- 
choridriasis,  apoplexy,  palsy,  or  mental  alienation 
itself  are  to  be  apprehended,  if  not  guarded  against 
by  timely  evacuations  from  the  bowels,  occasional 
leeching  or  cupping  in  the  temples  or  shoulders, 
cold  applications  to  the  head  itself,  &c. 

In  tlit -heart  and  Mood-vessel  system,  the  perni- 
cious consequences  of  intemperance  may  be  traced 
by  the  discriminating  physician,  to  irregularity  of 
action  in  the  central  organ  of  the  circulation;  oc- 
casional palpitations  or  flutterings;  strange  and 
undescribable  sensations  in  the  chest;  unequal 
distributions  of  the  blood ;  flushings  in  one  part  of 
the  body,  and  chilliness  in  another,  but  particular- 


ly  an  extreme  dejection  of  spirits,  which  characte- 
rizes deranged  function  and  structure  of  the  heart, 
and  I  am  convinced  leads,  in  numerous  instances, 
to  suicide! 

To  remedy  these  evils  effectually,  it  is  evident 
that  a  gradual  diminution,  or  total  substraction  of 
the  cause  would  be  the  surest  method.  But  only  a 
few  have  resolution  to  reform  entirely.  The  best 
means  of  counteracting  or  retarding  the  deleteri- 
ous effects  of  intemperance,  are  such  agents  as 
keep  all  the  secretions  open;  particularly  those  of 
the  bowels  and  the  skin.  The  blue  pill,  aloes,  and 
antimony,  form  a  powerful  combination  for  this 
purpose,  when  judiciously  proportioned;  and,  aid- 
ed by  carriage  or  horse  exercise,  and  the  oc- 
casional use  of  the  tepid  or  cold  bath,  (according 
to  the  actual  condition  of  the  heart,  liver,  diges- 
tive organs,  and  head)  will  ward  off  the  punish- 
ment of  our  indiscretions  for  a  much  longer  period 
than  we  deserve  to  enjoy! 

The  above  observations  apply  to  excesses  in 
drink  every  where ;  but  on  the  population  of  crowd- 
ed cities,  where  sedentary  habits  and  confined  air 
prevail,  these  excesses  exert  an  infinitely  more 


powerful  influence  than  in  towns,  villages,  or  the, 
open  country.  The  citizen  then,  and  particularly 
the  civic  valetudinarian  ought  to  be  especially  on- 
guard  against  this  source  of  ill  health. 

A  few  words  on  the  salutary  effects  of  drink. 
There  can  he  no  question  that  water  is  the  best, 
and  the  only  drink  which  Nature  has  designed  for 
man ;  and  there  is  as  little  doubt  but  that  every  per- 
son might  gradually,  or  even  pretty  quickly  accus- 
tom himself  to  this  aqueous  beverage.  But  this  will 
never  be  generally  adopted.  I  believe  a  precept  is 
inculcated  in  the  lectures  of  a  deservedly  eminent 
physiologist  of  this  metropolis,  that  no  drink  should 
be  taken  at  meals,  nor  for  three  hours  afterwards, 
lest  the  gastric  juice  should  be  diluted,  and  the 
digestion  thereby  weakened.  From  an  attentive 
observation  of  man  and  animals  in  almost  every 
parallel  of  latitude  and  climate  of  the  globe,  and 
among  nations  the  nearest  to  a  state  of  nature,  I 
am  disposed  to  draw  a  very  different  conclusion. 
Both  men  and  animals,  under  these  circumstances, 
drink  immediately  after  eating ;  and  this,  I  am 
convinced,  is  the  salutary  habit.  But  even  this 
rule  is  not  absolute.  It  must  vary  according  to 
the  season  of  the  year,  and  the  exercise,  &c.  of 


38 


the  individual.  In  hot  weather,  when  there  is 
great  exudation  from  the  pores  of  the  skin,  and 
particularly  where  exercise  is  taken  before  dinner, 
the  food  must  be  diluted  by  drink  during  the  meal, 
and  vice  versa. 

Next  to  water,  toast  water,  or  soda  water,  is 
Sherry  or  Madeira  and  water — then  very  weak 
brandy  and  water — table  beer.  The  next  least  in- 
salutary  species  of  drink,  is  undiluted  Sherry,  Ma- 
deira, and  other  white  wines;  then  Claret,  and 
least  salubrious  of  all,  Port  wine  and  spirits.  In 
proportion  as  we  adhere  to  the  upper  links  of  this 
chain,  so  have  we  a  chance  of  continued  health. 
As  we  descend  in  the  series,  so  do  we  lay  down  a 
substratum  for  disease. 

It  may  here  be  remarked,  that  tea,  independent 
of  its  adulterations,  has  a  peculiar  effect  on  the  ner- 
vous system,  and  that  the  digestive  organs  suffer 
through  the  influence  of  this  system.  The  morbid 
effects  of  ale  or  porter  are  more  observable  on  the 
circulating  and  absorbent  system,  and  will  be  no- 
ticed in  the  Section  on  that  subject.  Ardent  spirits- 
exert  their  deleterious  influence  chiefly  on  the  sto- 
mach, liver,  brain,  and  nerves. 


PARALLEL  OF  ENJOYMENT  AND  SUFFERING  IN  DRINK. 

The  water- drinker  glides  tranquilly  through 
life,  without  much  exhilaration  or  depression,  and 
escapes  many  diseases  to  which  he  would  other- 
wise be  subject.  The  wine- drinker  experiences 
short,  but  vivid  periods  of  rapture,  and  long  inter- 
vals of  gloom ;  he  is  also  more  subject  to  disease. 
The  balance  of  enjoyment,  then,  turns  decidedly  in 
favour  of  the  water-drinker,  leaving  out  his  tem- 
poral prosperity  and  future  anticipations ;  and  the 
nearer  we  keep  to  his  regime,  the  happier  we  shall 
be.  Here,  however,  as  in  all  other  things,  there 
is  a  certain  latitude  within  the  range  of  health  and 
happiness,  which  the  wise  man  and  the  philoso- 
pher will  occasionally  traverse  ronnd,  but  not  ex- 
ceed. The  native  fountain  is  in  the  centre  of  this 
circle,  and  from  it  our  eccentric  divergences  should 
be  narrowly  watched  and  carefully  limited. 


40 


SUBSECTION  III. 


Influence  of  Civic  Life,  i$c.  on  the  digestive  Or- 
gans, through  the  Medium  of  Air. 

THE  exact  effect  of  atmospheric  air  on  our  blood 
through  the  medium  of  the  lungs,  is  not  yet  clear- 
ly ascertained;  but  we  know  that  it  is  essential 
to  life.  We  know  also,  that  the  air  is  the  great 
agent  in  the  production  of  disease,  both  by  its  vi- 
cissitudes of  temperature,  and  by  its  noxious  im- 
pregnations. If  we  examine  the  streets,  the  houses, 
the  manufactories,  the  dormitories,  &c.  of  great 
and  crowded  cities,  we  shall  be,  astonished  that  the 
incalculable  mass  of  exhalations  of  all  kinds,  which 
is  constantly  floating  in  the  lower  strata  of  a  civic 
atmosphere,  is  not  more  detrimental  to  health  than 
it  is  !  Even  the  respiration  of  man  and  animals 
must,  in  some  degree,  deteriorate  the  air  of  large 
and  populous  cities.  No  man  who  has  felt  the  ex- 
hilaration of  the  country  air,  and  the  depression 
of  spirits  which  almost  uniformly  takes  place  on 


41 


returning  to  town,   can  doubt  that  a  heavy  tax  is 
levied  on  the  health  of  man  in  civic  society  ! 

Its  most  visible  effects  are  depicted  in  the  com- 
plexion, which  is  pale  and  eranguious ;  and  this 
uniformly  obtains  wherever  man  is  excluded  from 
the  pure  breath  of  heaven.  Its  influence  then  on 
the  digestive  organs,  through  the  medium  of  the 
skin  (between  which  and  the  stomach,  liver,  and 
other  internal  organs,  there  is  a  most  intimate  sym- 
pathy) must  be  great,  and  really  is  so.  The  whole 
digestive  apparatus  is  enfeebled  in  function,  partly 
through  the  medium  of  the  skin,  and  partly  through 
the  influence  of  that  nervous  depression  which  re- 
sults from  the  inhalation  of  a  civic  atmosphere,  and 
exerts  a  most  powerful  effect  on  the  digestive  or- 
gans. 

It  is  a  source  of  great  satisfaction  to  the  philan- 
thropist to  see  that  the  construction  of  modern 
streets,  and  of  modern  houses,  is  well  calculated  to 
obviate  the  effects  of  contaminated  air,  and  ensure  a 
free  ventilation.  Every  citizen,  and  particularly  every 
valetudinarian,  should  endeavour,  if  possible,  to  em- 
erge from  the  confines  of  the  smoke  once  a  day,  were 
it  for  ever  so  short  a  time,  and  enjoy  the  air  and  exer- 
F 


42 


else  of  the  open  country.  The  cold,  or  tepid  bath, 
will  also  be  a  powerful  corrector  of  civic  air.  The 
parks,  in  the  vicinity  of  this  capital,  save  thou- 
sands of  lives  annually;  and  it  is  wonderful  that 
they  are  not  still  more  crowded,  considering  the 
countless  hosts  of  sedentary  invalids  with  which 
this  overgrown  metropolis  abounds.  It  is  not 
beneath  the  dignity,  or  even  the  prudence,  of  the 
medical  philosopher  to  saunter  along  the  Mall, 
or  through  the  different  parks,  on  Sundays,  or 
other  days  of  relaxation,  to  study  the  civic  phy- 
siognomy, and  contrast  it  with  that  of  rural  life. 
He  will  read  in  almost  every  countenance  the  aspi- 
ration of  the  Augustan  poet : 

O  Rus,  quando  te  aspiciam! 

But  it  is  through  the  medium  of  atmospherical 
vicissitudes,  that  the  digestive  organs,  in  polished 
life,  suffer  the  worst  effects.  In  civic  society,  the 
human  race  is  so  little  exposed,  or  at  least  inured 
to  the  open  inclemencies  of  the  skies,  that  the  sur- 
face of  the  body  becomes  highly  susceptible  of 
aerial  transitions;  and  these  impressions  are  quick- 
ly transmitted  by  sympathy,  or  otherwise,  to  the 
interior  organs,  particularly  those  concerned  in  di- 


43 


gestion  and  biliary  secretion,  as  1  have  shown,  at 
great  length,  in  my  work  on  "  the  Influence  of  the 
Atmosphere/'  to  which  I  must  refer  for  the  details. 

To  counteract  this  enervated  state  of  the  surface, 
the  cold,  or  even  the  air  bath  is  the  most  power- 
ful remedy. 

It  will  not  be  questioned  that  the  balance  of  en- 
joyment, in  respect  to  air,  points  to  the  country ; 
and  that  of  suffering  to  the  city. 


il 


SUBSECTION  IV. 


Influence  of  Civic  Life,  8{c.  on  the  digestive  Or- 
gans,  through  the  Medium  of  Sedentary  Habits. 

WHEN  men  began  to  congregate  in  cities,  they 
in    a  great   measure,    exchanged   labour   for    art. 
Now,  it  is   well   known  that  the  muscles,   when 
briskly  exerted,    acquire  tone   and  strength,  and 
this  tonicity  is  extended  to  the  organs  of  digestion. 
But,  on  the  other  hand,  by  sedentary  habits,  the 
muscles  are  relaxed  and  debilitated,  and  the  diges- 
tive apparatus  participates  in  this  debility.     Be- 
sides, a  certain  degree  of  exercise  is  necessary  to 
circulate  the  blood  and  other  juices,    and  promote 
the  various  secretions;  without  which,  the  liver, 
stomach,  and  intestines  cannot  perform  their  pro- 
per functions.     This  degree  of  exercise  is  rarely, 
if  ever,  taken  by  the  sedentary  citizen,  and  its  ef- 
fects are  seen  in  two  different  ways ;  in  morbid  ac- 
cumulations of  fat,  and   in  paleness,  emaciation, 
nervous  debility,  and  hypochondriacal  depression. 


\ 


45 


Another  way,  in  which  sedentary  habits  prove 
prejudicial  to  the  digestive  organs  is,  by  the  me- 
chanical pressure  which  the  stomach  and  liver  sus- 
tain in  numerous  sedentary  employments,  where 
there  is  much  stooping  or  leaning  forward.  A  great 
deal  of  functional   derangement  is  thus  induced. 
Indeed,  every  class  of  artizans  or  mechanics  has 
its  peculiar  train  of  prevailing  diseases,  which  it 
behoves    the  medical   practitioner   to  study   with 
great    care.      The   compositor   who  sets   up    the 
types  of  this  page,    and  the  pressman  who  works 
off  the  sheets,  are  affected  with  quite  a  distinct  set 
of  complaints.     It  is  the  same  with  all  other  spe- 
cies and  subdivisions  of  labour. 

The  remedies  are,  exercise,  passive  or  active, 
the  cold  bath,  where  no  organ  is  unsound,  and  al- 
terative doses  of  the  blue  pill,  with,  or  without  sar- 
saparilla.  Tonics  are  more  frequently  hurtful  than 
beneficial. 


SUBSECTION  V. 


Influence  of  Civic  Life,  t$c.  on  the  digestive  Or- 
gans, through  the  Medium  of  Mental  Emotions. 

THE  nervous  system  and  digestive  organs  act 
and  re-act  upon  each  other  with  surprising  force 
and  rapidity.  The  intelligence  of  a  severe  loss,  or 
the  occurrence  of  an  unexpected  calamity  will  in- 
stantaneously annihilate  the  appetite,  suspend  the 
process  of  digestion,  and  allow  the  contents  of  the 
stomach  and  bowels  to  run  into  all  kinds  of  decom- 
position and  fermentation.  A  piece  of  agreeable 
information,  on  the  contrary,  will  recal  the  inclina- 
tion for  food,  and  qui(  kly  set  all  the  digestive  ma- 
chine again  in  regular  motion.  Now  it  is  quite  evi- 
dent,  that  in  proportion  as  men  accumulate  in  large 
societies,  those  events  and  circumstances  which 
tend,  in  a  thousand  different  ways,  to  disquiet  the 
mind,  ruffle  the  temper,  and  excite  the  passions, 
multiply  in  an  increasing  ratio.  Compare  the 
whistling  plough- boy  with  the  calculating  stock- 


47 


broker;  the  shepherd  on  the  mountains,  with  the 
merchant  in  the  city ;  the  village  magistrate,  with 
the  prime  minister.  Compare  the  state  of  their 
minds,  anil  the  state  of  their  digestive  organs,  and 
you  will  find  a  corresponding  contrast  in  hoth!  In- 
deed, 1  firmly  believe,  that  the  mental  perturba- 
tions of  a  civic  life  cause,  upon  the  whole,  more 
derangement  of  function?  and  ultimately  of  struc- 
ture, in  the  stomach,  liver,  and  alimentary  canal, 
than  all  the  other  agents  which  we  have  been  hither- 
to investigating.  This  is  a  subject  deserving  the 
utmost  attention  of  all  classes  in  civic  society,  as 
well  as  of  the  medical  practitioner,  whose  prime 
object  should  be  to  ascertain  the  real  source  of  a 
disease ;  for  this  discovery  gives  him  infinite  advan- 
tages in  the  mode  of  removing  it. 

Of  all  the  digestive  organs,  the  liver  suffers  most 
in  this  way.  This  I  know  from  long  and  painful 
experience  in  my  own  person,  as  wrell  as  observa- 
tion on  others,  both  in  this  country  and  in  tropical 
regions.  Indeed,  I  have  ascertained,  that  many 
of  the  depressing  passions  will  instantaneously 
spasm  the  mouths  of  the  biliary  ducts,  when  a  re- 
gurgitation  of  bile  takes  place  into  the  system  at 
large,  tinging  the  eye  yellow,  and  overcasting  the 


48 


mind  with  the  most  gloomy  anticipations,    and  in- 
describable despondency. 

It  is  a  curious  but  undoubted  fact,  that  the  dif- 
ferent mental  emotions,  or  passions,  even  of  the 
same  class,  produce  different  effects  on  the  organs 
of  digestion,  and  especially  on  the  biliary  secre- 
tion. This  is  so  strikingly  the  case,  that  by  exa- 
mining the  morbid  conditions  of  these  organs,  I 
have  often  guessed  the  real  origin  of  them ;  and, 
on  the  other  hand,  by  being  told  the  malady  of  the 
mind,  I  have  stated,  without  inquiry,  the  corporeal 
symptoms  in  the  digestive  viscera.  The  effects  of 
anger,  for  instance,  are  very  different  from  those 
of  grief.  The/0?9?wer  will  often  increase,  and  ren- 
der acrid  the  biliary  and  gastric  secretions,  produ- 
cing irritation  all  along  the  line  of  the  bowels. 
The  latter,  on  the  contrary,  will  diminish  the  same 
secretions,  and  often  leave  the  alimentary  canal 
completely  torpid.  Corresponding  differences  are 
seen  to  result  from  love,  fear,  jealousy,  inordinate 
ambition,  envy,  &c.  and  the  corporeal  effects  re- 
quire an  appropriate  modification  of  treatment,  a 
circumstance  that  is  too  much  overlooked. 

Study  and  deep  thought,  not  only  among  the  li- 


49 

terary,  but  among  the  professional,  mechanical; 
and  manufacturing  classes  of  society,  exert  a  most 
powerful  and  deleterious  effect  on  the  digestive 
organs,  by  drawing  the  vital  energy  and  circula- 
tion to  the  brain  and  nervous  system,  and  robbing 
the  lower  viscera  of  their  due  share  of  these  im- 
portant principles.  This  subject  I  have  already 
touched  on,  in  my  work  on  i(  Tropical  Climates," 
and  also  in  that  on  «  the  Influence  of  the  British 
Atmosphere."  The  subject  will  be  again  taken  up 
in  the  third  Chapter  on  the  Intellectual  System. 

The  remedies  here  are  partly  moral,  and  partly 
physical.  The  nature  of  the  moral  causes  must  be 
explained  to  the  patient ;  though  advice,  in  re- 
spect to  the  passions,  or  mental  emotions,  has  sel- 
dom mueh  effect.  It  is  fortunate,  however,  that  in 

0 

no  instance  is  the  efficacy  of  well  directed  remedies 
more  conspicuous  than  in  derangements  of  the  bili- 
ary and  digestive  organs,  resulting  from  mental 
perturbations  and  anxieties.  Indeed,  it  is  astonish- 
ing how  easily,  not  only  these  derangements  them- 
selves, but  even  the  causes  that  produced  them, 
may  be  relieved  or  removed,  by  a  few  simple  re- 
medies, when  the  real  seat  of  the  corporeal  disor- 
der is  ascertained  by  accurate  and  careful  examina- 
tion of  the  symptoms  and  phenomena. 
G 


50 


SUBSECTION  VI. 

Influence  of  Civic  Life,  £fc.  on  the  digestive  Or- 
gans, through  the  Medium  of  late  Hours. 

SUCH  is  the  harmonious  balance,  or  sympathy,, 
between  the  various  organs  and  functions  of  the 
.human  frame,  that  no  one  can  be  disturbed,  with- 
out annoyance  to  several  others.  Thus  the  intel- 
lectual and  animal  systems  being  greatly  deranged 
by  the  unnatural  custom  of  turning  night  into  day, 
and  day  into  night,  which  so  universally  prevails 
in  civic  life,  the  digestive  organs  come  in^for  their 
share  of  the  mischief,  through  the  sympathy,  or 
connexion  in  question;  and  that  at  a  time  too,  when 
the  said  organs  are  labouring  under  the  evil  conse- 
quence of  inordinate  irritation  from  food  and  drink! 
The  united  effects  are  such  as  we  might  expect, 
and  such  as  we  actually  meet  with  at  every  step. 
They  are  in  exact  ratio  to  the  cause,  and  follow  the 
commission  of  our  crimes  against  Nature  as  closely 
as  the  shadow  follows  the  substance ! 


51 


SUBSECTION  VII. 

Influence  of  Civic  Life,  §V.   on  the  digestive  Or- 
gans, through  the  Medium  of  Medicine. 

"  Medicines  differ  from  poisons  only  in  their  doses." 

THE    multiplication   of  medicines  and  medical 
men,  with  the  progress  of  civilized  society,  is  a 
sufficient  proof;  if  proof  were  wanting,  of  a  corre- 
sponding multiplication  of  human  infirmities !  So 
complicated   is    the  living    machine,    in   structure 
and  functions;  so  intricate  its  movements,   and  so 
numerous  the   agents   by  which  it  is  influenced, 
from  within  and  from  without,  that  the  science  of 
health  and  disease  as  much  exceeds  all  other  sci- 
ences, in  difficulty  of  attainment,  as  Algebra,   or- 
Astronomy,  exceeds,  in  difficulty,  the  plainest  rules 
of  arithmetic.  Now,  when  we  look  around  us,  and 
observe  the  host  of  old  women,  nurses,  quacks, 
and  even  patients  themselves,    (leaving   aside  the 


52 


mass  of  ignorant,  or  unqualified,  pretenders  to  re- 
gular practice)  all  busily  employed  "  in  pouring 
drugs,  of  which  they  know  little,  into  bodies,  of 
which  they  know  less/'  we  are  irresistibly  led  to 
the  melancholy  conclusion,  that,  all  things  consi- 
dered, it  were  better  for  mankind  if  not  a  particle 
of  medicine  existed  on  the  face  of  the  earth  !  Nor  is 
this  a  stigma  on  the  use,  but  on  the  abuse  of  the 
science.  It  is  still  a  "divine  art,"  to  which  the 
victim  of  pain  must  fly  at  last,  however  stoical  or 
sceptical  his  disposition. 

It  has  been  a  just  cause  of  reproach,  to  this  coun- 
try in  particular,  that  we  are  fonder  of  studying  re- 
medies than  indications :  that  is,  that  we  hunt  too 
much  after  specifics,  and  do  not  sufficiently  attend 
to  the  minute  features,  phenomena,,  and  causes  of 
disease,  by  a  knowledge  of  which  we  might  more 
effectually  employ  those  remedies  we  already  pos- 
sess. Let  us  exemplify  this  observation.  A  lady 
is  seized  with  that  painful  affection,  Tic  doulou- 
reux, or  face-ache.  One  person  recommends  calo- 
mel and  opium,  as  an  effectual  remedy :  a  second, 
proposes  Fowler's  solution :  a  third,  asserts  that 
belladonna  is  a  specific  :  a  fourth,  that  cutting  the 
nerve  is  the  surest  remedy.  Now7  any  one  of  these 


53 


may  happen  to  be  the  right  remedy  ;  but  they  may 
all  be  wrong,  and  the  poor  lady  may  run  the  gant- 
let before  she  is  cured.  Thus,  if  the  face-ache  be 
merely  symptomatic  of  some  derangement  in  the  li- 
ver, or  digestive  organs,  the  calomel  and  opium 
will  probably  be  successful:  if  the  disease  arise 
from  a  translation  of  gouty,  or  rheumatic  irritation 
to  the  part,  Fowler's  solution  may  stop  the  parox- 
ysms of  pain  :  if  it  be,  as  it  seems,  a  purely  ner- 
vous affection,  belladonna  may  remove  it ;  and  if 
it  consist  in  an  inflamed  state  of  the  neurilema,  or 
covering  of  the  nerve,  the  division  of  that  covering 
by  the  knife  may  so  empty  the  vessels  as  to  check 
the  disease :  but  if,  as  is  often  the  case,  the  sen- 
tient extremity  of  a  nervous  twig,  be  irritated  by  a 
carious  tooth,  the  whole  of  the  foregoing  means 
will  be  useless,  and  the  extraction  of  the  cause 
alone  will  destroy  the  effect. 

What  we  have  said  of  tic  douloureux,  applies 
to  every  other  disease.  Each  has  not  only  numer- 
ous causes,  but  numerous,  and  constantly  varying 
modes  of  action,  which  require  incessant  vigilance, 
and  the  keenest  penetration  to  trace  and  counteract. 
Thus,  suppose  a  person  to  be  suffering  under  acute 
rheumatism,  or  gout,  in  his  foot  or  knee.  We  are 


54 


treating  it  with  cooling  evaporating  lotions,  and 
every  thing  appears  to  be  going  on  well;  hut  we 
hsx •«  scarcely  turned  the  corner  of  the  street,  when 
the  rheumatic,  or  gouty  inflammation  darts,  like  an 
electric  shock,  to  the  heart  or  brain  ;  here  then  we 
have  to  immediately  undo  all  we  have  been  doing. 
To  the  part  whpre  we  were  applying  refrigeration, 
we  must  now  apply  mustard,  blisters,  or  even 
scalding  water ;  and,  in  short,  totally  reverse  our 
proceedings.  What  then  must  be  the  consequence 
of  employing  specific  remedies  in  diseases,  that, 
like  Proteus,  are  constantly  changing  their  forms? 
Why  misery,  or  death,  to  thousands  every  day  !* 

I  have  shown  that,  in  civic  life  as  now  constitu- 
ted, the  digestive  organs  are  very  generally  in  a 
state  of  irritation,  from  the  quantity  and  quality  of 
our  food,  drink,  &c.  The  situation  of  the  nervous 
system  will  hereafter  be  proved  to  be  very  similar. 
To  remove  these  evils,  man  will  not  avoid  the 
causes  that  produced  them;  the  only  alternative 
then,  is  recourse  to  medicine.  But  almost  all  me- 
dicines are  in  themselves,  irritants;  and  more 
than  half  the  employment  of  the  physician  con- 

*  See  my  n  Practical  Researches  on  Gout,"  for  examples. 


55 


sists  in  removing  one  irritation  by  inducing  another. 
Let  us  exemplify  this  remark.      A   man,  after  full 

• 

living,  sedentary  avocations,  and  irregular  hours, 
begins  to  feel  loss  of  appetite,  head-ache,  drowsi- 
ness, depression  of  spirits,  fickleness  of  temper, 
with  sense  of  fulness,  and  uneasiness  on  pressure 
in  the  right  side,  £c.  There  is  now  engorgement 
and  irritation  in  the  liver.  What  do  we  do  ?  We 
give  calomel,  aloes>  and  colocynth,  which  irritate 
the  mucous  membrane  of  the  digestive  organs,  sti- 
mulate the  mouths  of  the  biliary  ducts,  and  cause 
a  flow  of  bile  and  various  other  secretions  into  the 
intestines,  which  secretions  are  soon  carried  out  of 
the  system  entirely.  The  whole  train  of  symptoms 
now  vanish  like  a  fog  before  the  sun  beams.  But 
suppose  (which  indeed  is  every  day  done)  we  had 
employed  a  different  class  of  irritants,  called  tonics  ; 
as  steel,  bitters,  &c.  which  the  loss  of  appetite  and 
other  symptoms  would  appear  to  indicate?  Why 
the  result  would  be  an  aggravation,  in  the  end,  of 
all  the  complaints.  Hence  then  we  perceive,  that 
nothing  but  the  most  careful  and  minute  investiga- 
tion of  the  natwre  and  seat  of  the  morbid  irrita- 
tion can  enable  us  to  apply  the  artificial  irritation 
of  medicine,  with  any  prospect  of  ultimate  success.. 
This  view  of  the  subject  might  open  the  eyes  of 


56 


mankind  to  the  devastation  which  is  daily  produ- 
ced in  the  digestive  organs  by  the  careless  and  in- 
discriminate administration  of  a  farrago  of  medicines, 
which,  like  food  and  drink,  both  by  their  quantities 
and  qualities,  keep  the  whole  line  of  the  alimentary 
canal,  and,  in  fact,  the  whole  system,  in  a  state  of 
morbid  irritability. 

For  this  the  patient  has  generally  to  thank  him- 
self. Instead  of  making  a  moderate  remuneration 
for  the  advice  or  opinion  of  the  medical  attendant, 
he  prefers  paying  him,  like  his  wine  merchant,  at 
per  dozen,  for  what  he  can  swallow !  In  this  way 
the  most  efficacious  remedies  are  often  rendered 
inert,  by  commixture  or  dilution,  and  perseverance 
is  prevented  by  satiety  or  disgust.* 

*  I  could  adduce  numerous  instances  where  the  power  of  medicines 
is  affected  by  commixture ;  but  the  following  will  suffice.  In  certain 
urethral  discharges,  whether  recent  or  chronic,  the  balsam  capivi  is 
possessed  of  singular  efficacy,  when  simply  administered  in  a  little 
water,  or  on  sugar.  But  I  have  seen  it  given  in  draughts  and  mix- 
tures, for  weeks  together,  without  effect.  When  given  in  pretty 
large  doses,  and  watched  till  it  produces  its  specific  symptoms,  it 
rarely  fails  to  stop  the  most  inveterate  gleet  in  three  or  four  days.  It 
is  a  curious  fact  that  it  removes  irritation,  or  even  chronic  inflamma- 
tion from  the  prostate  gland,  or  neck  of  the  bladder,  at  the  very 
moment  that  it  causes  heat  in  making  water.  The  manner  and  the 
dose,  however,  in  which  it  is  generally  given,  render  it  abortive. 


57 


But  it  may  be  said,  that,  as  the  specific  action  of 
medicines  on  the  human  frame,  was  found  out  hy 
accident  and  observation,  and  as  their  effects  are 
pretty  uniform,  so  the  knowledge  of  applying  them 
cannot  be  so  very  difficult  or  complicated.  Why  no. 
A  man  of  very  common  understanding  may  soon 
learn  the  names,  the  doses,  and  the  qualities  of  the 
whole  Materia  Medica,  and  he  may  be  able  to  tell 
pretty  nearly  how  each  will  act  upon  the  living  ma- 
chine, in  a  state  of  health.  But  the  great  difficulty 
is  to  discover  the  nature  and  seat  of  the  disease, 
and  how  to  remove  that  disease  by  remedies,  which 
often  produce  diametrically  opposite  effects.  It  is 
not  by  seeing  a  great  deal  of  sickness  only,  that 
this  knowledge  can  be  acquired  5  but  by  closely 
studying  what  we  do  see. 

Now,  as  in  civic  society,  the  health  is  constant- 
ly wanting  repairs ;  as  the  human  frame  is  there  in 
a  state  of  morbid  sensibility  and  irritability ;  and 
as  patients,  quacks,  and  illiterate  practitioners  are 
constantly  pouring  a  flood  of  physic,  upon  real  or 
imaginary  diseases,  it  is  no  unreasonable  inference, 
that,  upon  the  whole,  a  greater  quantum  of  suffer- 
ing and  mortality  is  thus  induced,  than  is  prevent- 
ed by  the  scientific  and  judicious  administration  of 
medicine ! 

H 


58 


From  the  above  considerations,  it  will  be  pretty 
evident^  that  the  poor  man  is  nearly  on  a  par  with 
the  rich.  If  he  cannot  afford  medicine,  or  medical 
advice,  he  runs  no  risk  of  injury  from  the  delusive 
promises  of  the  quack,  or  the  misapplication  of  do- 
mestic prescription.  The  balance  of  happiness  is 
nearly  in  equilibria  on  this  point. 


SECTION  II. 


INFLUENCE  OF  CIVIC  LIFE,  SEDENTARY  HABITS,  AND  IN- 
TELLECTUAL  REFINEMENT,  ON  THE  HEART  AND  CIR- 
CULATING VESSELS. 


OF  all  the  internal  organs,  not  immediately  un- 
der the  control  of  the  will,  there  is  none  so  easily 
and  so  commonly  influenced  and  disturbed  in  its 
functions  by  mental  emotions  and  corporeal  sensa- 
tions, as  the  heart.  A  whitlow  on  the  finger  will 
excite  the  action  of  the  heart  and  arteries  ;  fear^ 
shame,  joy,  anger,  &c.  will  drive  this  organ  from 
its  usual  and  healthy  rhythm,  into  all  kinds  of  ir- 
regularity and  excess.  This  susceptibility  to  wild 
and  tumultuous  action,  is  in  direct  proportion  to 
the  degree  of  intellectual  refinement,  nervous  sen- 
sibility, and  delicacy  of  corporeal  structure,  which 
we  possess.  As  it  is  a  well  known  law,  that 
disordered  function  will,  in  time,  lead  to  diseased 
substance  ;  and  as  in  the  progress  of  civilization  and 
refinement,  a  host  of  circumstances  are  engendered 
and  combined  to  disturb  the  tranquility  of  the  heart, 
both  in  a  moral  and  physical  sense,  we  have  thus 


60 


a  clue  to  the  overwhelming  torrent  of  diseases  of 
this  organ,  which,  of  late  years,  have  pressed  upon 
the  observation  of  every  intelligent  practitioner. 
Corvisart,  who  has  long  studied  the  disorders  of 
the  heart,  and  who  remarked  their  increased  fre- 
quency, during  the  agitations  of  the  French  Revo- 
lution, declares  it  as  his  firm  belief,  that  they  are 
more  common  and  frequent  than  those  of  either  the 
liver  or  lungs.  From  the  most  unwearied  attention 
to  this  subject,  during  the  last  four  or  five  years, 
excited  and  kept  up  by  personal  feelings  and  suf- 
ferings, I  am  strongly  disposed  to  believe  that  Cor- 
visart  is  correct.  A  multiplicity  of  anomalous 
symptoms  and  feelings,  usually  clashed  under  the 
sweeping  term  «  nervous,"  are,  I  know  from  ex- 
perience, the  result  of  functional  or  organic  disor- 
der of  the  heart ;  and  very  many  of  those  sudden, 
awful,  and  mysterious  deaths  which  we  see  and 
hear  of,  are  consequences  of  the  same.  As  it  is 
only  in  the  very  earliest  stages  of  these  melancholy 
affections  that  medicine  can  effectually  avail,  and 
as  prevention  is  still  better  than  cure,  I  shall  trace 
slightly,  but  I  hope  correctly,  the  principal  causes 
which  lead  to  the  derangements  of  this  vital  organ, 
and  thereby  enable  the  reader  to  guard  against 
su£h  a  formidable  class  of  human  afflictions. 


61 


SUBSECTION   I. 

Influence  of  Civic  Life,  %c.  on  1he  Heart,  through 
the  Medium  of  the  digestive  Organs. 

THE  stomach,  as  it  is  the  organ  by  which  the 
corporeal  fabric  is  nurtured  and  maintained,  so  is 
it  the  centre  of  sympathies.  Between  it  and  the 
heart  so  intimate  a  sympathy  or  consent  obtains, 
that  flatulence,  indigestion  and  various  other  func- 
tional disturbances  in  the  stomach  will  often  go  so 
far  as  to  stop,  for  a  moment,  the  action  of  the  heart. 
At  the  very  moment  that  1  am  writing  these  lines, 
my  pulse  intermits  every  fifth  or  sixth  stroke,  from 
a  little  biliary  derangement  and  indigestion,  result- 
ing from  the  intense  heat  of  the  weather,  some 
mental  anxiety,  and  inordinate  application  to 
study.  About  twelve  months  ago,  from  the  same 
causes^  the  action  of  the  heart  was  so  deranged, 
that  I  could  not  walk  twenty  yards  without  danger 
of  fainting,  and  such  a  degree  of  palpitation  and 
indescribable  uneasiness  in  the  chest,  as  threaten- 


62 


eel  instant  death.  To  these  were  added  frightful 
dreams,  starlings  from  sleep ;  great  mental  despon- 
dency ;  irritability  of  temper;  the  most  gloomy  an- 
ticipations and  prognostications  of  all  future  events ; 
in  short,  a  very  considerable  number  of  those  symp- 
toms and  phenomena,  which  attend  organic,  or  in- 
curable disease  of  the  heart.  My  alarm  was  con- 
siderable at  first;  but  I  soon  discovered  the  func- 
tional or  sympathetic  nature  of  the  complaint,  and, 
by  horse  exercise,  and  improving  the  state  of  the 
digestive  organs,  1  at  length  conquered,  in  a  great 
measure,  the  disease.  But  the  same  causes  still 
continue,  occasionally,  to  reproduce  it;  and  will 
do  so,  while  I  am  subjected  to  their  influence.  I 
forsee  that  these  functional  disturbances  will,  in 
time,  lead  to  organic  changes  in  the  heart ;  and 
though  I  know  the  causes  I  cannot  avoid  them ! 

video,  meliora  proboque, 

Deteriora  sequor  ! * 

Although  I  had  studied  both  functional  and 
organic  diseases  of  the  heart,  with  peculiar  care, 
for  fifteen  years  past,  yet  the  phenomena  which; 


*  In  my  work  on  the  Influence  of  the  Atmosphere  ( Second Edition J 
page  194,  I  have  stated  this  case  more  in  detail. 


63 


during  the  last  twelve  months,  I  observed  and  felt 
in  my  own  person,  have  enabled  me  to  ascertain 
certain  minute,  but  distinctive  features  in  the  two 
classes  of  disease,  on  which  1  can  rest  with  con- 
siderable confidence,  my  diagnostic  decisions,  in 
regard  to  their  nature  and  treatment. 

One  most  curious  and  interesting  phenomenon 
is  this  $  1  can  perceive  when  certain  gases  distend 
the  stomach,  the  diaphragm,  on  which  the  heart 
rests,  is  either  pushed  up  mechanically,  or  sympa- 
thetically affected,  so  as  to  disturb  the  action  of  the 
heart,  and  prevent  it  from  unloading  itself  of  its 
blood.  At  that  moment,  there  is  an  unusual  throb, 
or  struggle  of  the  heart,  accompanied  by  a  most  dis- 
tressing and  sickening  sensation,  and  a  cessation 
of  the  pulse  in  all  tangible  arteries.  For  many 
months  together  this  used  to  occur  twenty,  thirty, 
or  one  hundred  times  in  the  course  of  an  hour. 
Another  peculiar  circumstance  is  this :  a  glass  of 
spirits  and  water,  or  two  or  three  glasses  of  wine, 
would,  at  any  time,  put  an  end  to  this  phenomenon, 
for  four  or  five,  or  six  hours,  to  return  again  with 
increased  violence.  Walking,  but  particularly  go- 
ing up  a  flight  of  stairs,  always  aggravated  the 
complaint ;  whereas  I  could  trot  or  gallop  on  horse- 


back,  with  a  sure  diminution  of  the  irregularity  of 
action  in  the  heart.  By  repeated  examination  of 
numerous  cases,  where  organic  disease  was  sus- 
pected during  life,  and  found  on  dissection,  I  as- 
certained that  the  above  phenomena  were  diamet- 
rically opposite  to  those  attendant  on  disordered 
structure  of  the  heart.  But  an  important  mean  of 
distinguishing  sympathetic,  from  substantial  dis- 
ease of  this  organ,  is  percussion  of  the  chest,  and 
pressure  of  the  stomach  and  abdomen,  as  first  re- 
commended by  that  experienced  physician,  M. 
Corvisart,  of  Paris.  During  the  last  six  years,  I 
have  employed  this  measure  in  a  great  variety  of 
instances;  and  the  more  I  have  seen,  the  morel  am 
convinced,  that,  in  conjunction  with  a  minute  ex- 
amination of  the  symptoms  of  the  disease,  it  affords 
a  most  invaluable  criterion,  whereby  to  estimate 
the  nature  and  danger  of  disordered  action,  or  de- 
ranged structure  of  the  heart.  But  it  is  not  by  ask- 
ing half  a  dozen  questions,  and  then  simply  patting 
the  chest,  and  squeezing  the  abdomen,  that  any  ac- 
curate knowledge  of  an  internal  disease  can  be  gain- 
ed. The  whole  of  the  symptoms  and  phenomena, 
together  with  a  rigid  inquiry  into  the  history  and 
causes  of  the  illness,  should  first  be  weighed,  and 
then  the  chest  and  abdomen  should  be  accurately 


65 


examined,  while  the  patient  is  placed  in  various 
positions.  Were  this  process  always  instituted 
(and  no  man  can  say  that  he  has  conscientiously 
investigated  the  nature  and  seat  of  a  serious  inter- 
nal disease  without  it),  we  should  not  hear  such 
conflicting  opinions  proceeding  from  eminent  phy- 
.  sicians  relative  to  individual  cases,  nor  patients 
complaining  of  the  vacillating  and  contradictory 
modes  of  treatment,  to  which  they  have  been  sub- 
jected.* ' 

But  to  return.  The  action  of  the  heart  being 
thus  shewn  to  be  greatly  influenced  by  derange- 
ments of  the  stomach  ;  and  as  a  civic  life  perpetu- 
ally tends  to  produce  disorders  of  the  latter  organ, 
we  need  no  longer  wonder  at  the  rapid  increase  of 
this  new  and  destructive  form  of  disease. 

Independently  of  this  sympathy  between  the 
heart  and  stomach,  there  are  various  ways  in 
which  the  organ  of  the  circulation  becomes  dis- 
turbed, through  the  medium  of  the  digestive  appa- 


*  In  a  course  of  lectures  on  functional  and  structural  derangements 
of  internal  organs  which  the  author  is  preparing-  to  deliver,  in  this  me- 
tropolis,  the  mode  of  conducting  thoracic  percussion  and  abdominal 
compression  will  be  particularly  delineated. 
I 


66 


ratus.  The  stimulating  and  intoxicating  drinks 
\vhich  we  use  accelerate  the  action  of  the  heart  in 
an  unnatural  manner.  The  richness  and  the  quan- 
tity of  our  food,  induce  a  too  great  fulness  of  the 
blood-vessels,  and  then  the  heart  is  called  upon 
for  exertions  in  circulating  the  blood,  to  which  it 
Is  often  unequal.  These  extraordinary  exertions 
ultimately  injure  the  texture,  or  mechanism  of  the 
heart  itself,  and  hence  a  prolific  source  of  terrible 
diseases. 

Another,  and  very  common  way  in  which  the 
heart  suffers,  is  from  derangements  of  the  liver. 
Whenever  the  circulation  of  the  blood  in  the  liver 
is  obstructed,  the  heart  feels  the  bad  effects;  and 
that  the  liver,  in  this  country,  is  frequently  in  a  state 
of  congestion,  from  a  variety  of  causes,  need  not 
here  be  insisted  on.*  The  very  enlargement  of  the 
liver  itself,  by  mechanically  encroaching  on  the  ca- 
pacity of  the  chest,  disturbs  the  free  action  of  the 
heart,  and  ultimately  injures  its  structure. 

It  requires  not  to  be  stated,  that  to  prevent  or 

*  See  the  Section  on  biliary  derangements,  in  my  wor£,  on  "  Atmos- 
pheric Influence,"  (Second  Edition,  J  from  page  56  to  page  96. 


67 


eure  these  affections  of  the  heart,  the  original  cau- 
ses must  be  removed,  as  a  sine  qua  non. 

On  this  point  the  balance  of  suffering  is  clearly 
against  the  pampered  citizen,  and  in  favour  of  the 
frugal  peasant. 


68 


SUBSECTION  II. 

Influence  of  Civic  Life,  &°c.  on  the  Heart,  through 
the  Medium  of  the  Skin. 

OUR  habits  of  life  in  civic  society  render  us 
extremely  susceptible  to  atmospherical  transitions; 
and,  as  in  this  climate,  these  transitions  are  pro- 
verbially common,  so  we  are  all  obnoxious  to 
rheumatism.  In  my  work  on  Atmospheric  Influ- 
ence, I  have  shewn,  at  great  length,  that  rheuma- 
tism of  the  heart  (from  translation  of  the  disease 
to  that  organ,  from  the  muscles  or  joints)  is  re- 
markably frequent  in  this  country.  1  have  there 
stated  numerous  cases  and  disections  of  this  dan- 
gerous disease,  that  happened  in  my  own  practice, 
and  in  that  of  others.  I  beg  leave  to  refer,  there- 
fore, to  the  second  edition  of  that  work,  from 
page  115  to  page  130,  for  the  fullest  history  of 
the  complaint  that  has  yet  been  published. 

I  may  here  state  that  gout  is  frequently  trans- 
lated to  the  heart,  especially  since  the  new  modes 


69 


of  curing  that  disease  by  the  eau  medicinale,  col- 
chicum,  and  cold  applications,  have  come  into 
vogue.  I  have  lately  seen  a  decided  and  melan- 
choly instance  of  this  kind. 

Independently  of  these  translations  of  specific  ir- 
ritation, as  of  gout  and  rheumatism,  to  the  heart,  this 
organ  suffers  much  from  sudden  changes  of  tempe- 
rature in  the  air,  whereby  the  volume  of  blood  is 
often  abruptly  driven  from  the  surface  to  the  inte- 
rior, embarrassing  the  action  of  the  heart.  These 
effects  are,  of  course,  increased,  if  not  principally 
occasioned,  by  our  fashionable  attire,  which  leaves 
not  only  the  skin,  but  the  great  vital  organs  of  the 
body  at  the  mercy  of  inclement',  and  ever  varying 
skies ! 

To  obviate  the  serious  ills  which  result  in  this 
way,  more  attention  should  be  paid  to  clothing,  and 
to  those  circumstances  which  I  have  pointed  out, 
under  this  head,  in  my  other  work.  In  treating 
rheumatism  we  should  equally  avoid  the  extremes 
of  a  warm  and  a  cold  regimen,  both  of  which  tend  to 
give  the  disease  a  disposition  to  shift  its  seat  from 
external  to  internal  parts,  and  thus  endanger  the 
heart.  Oa  this  subject  I  have  treated  fully  in  my 


70 


other  work  before  alluded  to.  The  same  observa 
tions  apply  to  the  treatment  of  gout,  especially,  in 
valetudinary  constitutions,  and  where  the  disease 
has  existed  some  time.  Those  heroic  medicines,  as 
our  French  brethren  call  them,  which  drive  gout 
out  of  the  system,  as  it  were  by  surprize,  only 
enable  it  to  re-enter,  with  greater  force,  and  in- 
stead of  lodging  on  the  outworks,  to  take  posses- 
sion at  once  of  the  citadel ! 

The  balance  of  suffering  here  preponderates,  on 
the  whole,  against  the  luxurious  citizen  and  se- 
dentary artizan.  For  although  the  soldier,  the  sai- 
lor, and  the  rustic  labourer,  are  more  exposed  to 
the  vicissitudes  of  the  skies,  and  are,  perhaps,  more 
generally  affected  with  rheumatic  complaints;  yet, 
they  are  exempt  from  that  delicate  organization, 
morbid  irritability,  and  keen  susceptibility,  which 
tend  to  produce  translations  of  this  painful  malady 
from  the  exterior  to  the  interior  of  the  body. 


71 


SUBSECTION 


Influence  of  Civic  Life,  §"c.  on  the  Heart,  through 
the  Medium  of  the  Passions. 

THE  influence  of  mental  emotions  on  the  func- 
tions of  the  heart  is  still  greater  than  on  the  diges- 
tive organs.  No  one  who  has  felt  the  palpitation, 
anxiety  about  the  chest,  and  galloping  pulse,  which 
accompany  perturbation  of  mind,  can  doubt  the  truth 
of  this  position.  The  detection  of  Antiochus?s  pas- 
sion for  Stratonica  by  the  pulse,  is  a  proof  of  how 
early  the  influence  of  the  mind  on  the  heart  and 
arteries  was  remarked.  And,  in  fact,  the  innume- 
rable instances  on  record  of  sudden  and  slow 
death,  from  mental  causes,  can  only  be  accounted 
for  in  this  way.  Every  body  knows  that  Philip 
the  Fifth,  of  Spain,  died  suddenly  on  learning  the 
disastrous  defeat  of  his  army  near  Plaisance.  Zim- 
merman states  that,  on  opening  his  body,  the  heart 
was  found  burst.  And  thus  it  is  that  the  vulgar 
and  metaphorical  expression  of  a  «  broken  heart," 
is  sometimes  pathologically  correct. 


72 

But  it  is  not  the  heart  alone  that  feels  the  im- 
pulse of  mental  perturbation.   The  minutest  capil- 
laries are  under  its  influence.     Shame,  for  exam- 
ple,  will  instantaneously  gorge  the  capillaries  of 
the  cheek,  and  render  the  skin  like  crimson.     Let 
the  emotion  he  changed  to  fear,  the  lily  usurps  the 
of  the    rose,   and    the  face  is   blanched    and 
•less  !  Auger  can  rouse  the  organs  of  the  cir- 
i'jii  into  such  preternatural  action  as  to  over- 
fur  a  time,  habitual  decrepitude.    Thus  Mu- 
l°y  Moloc,  though  lying  on  the  bed  of  death,  worn 
out  by  an   incurable  disease,  and  not  expected  to 
live  an  hour,   started  from  his  litter,  during  the  im- 
portant crisis  of  a  battle  between  his  troops  and 
the    Portuguese — rallied  his    army — led  them   to 
victory — and  immediately  expired  ! 

The  heart  then  being  so  particularly  under  the 
influence  of  the  mind,  we  may  form  some  idea  of  the 
wide  range  of  effects  resulting  from  the  various, 
and  almost  unlimited  play  of  the  passions  among 
so  thinking,  so  reading,  and  so  political  a  people 
as  the  English.  With  the  progress  of  civilization, 
refinement,  and  intellectual  cultivation,  a  host  of 
what  may  be  termed  predispositions  to  disease 
have  arisen,  that  lay  us  at  the  mercy  of  almost 


73 


every  breath  of  heaven.  Our  feelings  are  render- 
ed so  acute,  that  we  are  all  soul  within,  and  all 
nerve  without.  We  thus,  like  the  spider,  "  live 
along  the  line,"  and  every  event  that  happens  on 
any  point  of  the  globe's  surface  is  regularly  trans- 
mitted, like  an  electric  shock,  to  this  sympathetic 
island !  The  consequence  is  that  a  morbid  sensibi- 
lity is  generated  throughout  the  whole  population, 
but  particularly  among  those  in  the  upper  walks  of 
life,  where  exposure  to  the  vicissitudes  of  the  at- 
mosphere, temperance,  and  daily  labour,  blunt  not 
the  senses,  and  fortify  not  the  corporeal  fabric. 
Thus  constituted,  it  may  easily  be  conceived  what 
havoc  those  great  and  predominant  passions,  love, 
ambition,  jealousy,  emulation,  &c.  produce  on  the 
enervated  frame,  when  carried  beyond  their  natu- 
ral and  healthy  boundaries. 

The  effects  of  the  mind  on  the  body,  in  a  salutary 
point  of  view,  cannot  be  accounted  for,  in  any  other 
way,  than  through  the  medium  of  the  heart  and 
blood  vessels. 

In  fine,  after  a  long  and  attentive  study  and  ob- 
servation of  this  subject,   I  am  led  to  conclude, 
that  of  all  causes,  which  conspire  to   disturb  the 
function,  and  ultimately  to  injure  the  structure  of 
K 


74 


this  important  organ,  mental  agitation  holds  the 
first  rank. 

It  need  hardly  he  remarked  that  mental  sensibi- 
lity is  in  proportion  to  civilization  and  refinement ; 
and  hence  that  if  the  upper  classes  of  society  taste 
more  exquisite  pleasure,  they  also  suffer  more  ex- 
quisite pain  than  those  in  lower  gradations  of  rank. 
Enjoyment  and  suffering  then  are  probably  in  equi- 
libria here. 

P.  S.  Before  closing  this  section,  I  may  be 
permitted  to  state,  that  on  examining  my  notes,  re- 
lative to  diseases  of  the  heart,  I  find  more  cases 
have  presented  themselves  from  the  class  of  tailors, 
than  any  other  description  of  tradesmen.  May  not 
this  be  owing  to  the  bent  position  in  which  they  sit, 
obstructing  the  free  circulation  of  blood  from  the 
heart,  and  ultimately  disturbing  its  function  or  in- 
juring its  structure  ? 

It  would  appear  that,  in  sedentary  occupations, 
where  much  stooping  or  leaning  over  a  desk  is 
used,  the  heart  suffers  more  than  the  lungs,  though 
the  attention  of  patients  and  physicians  has  been 
principally  directed  to  the  latter,  without  suspect- 
ing the  injury  which  the  former  was  sustaining. 


75 


SECTION  III. 


INFLUENCE  OF  CIVIC  LIFE,  ETC.  ON  THE  LUNGS  AND 
GLANDULAR  SYSTEM. 


THERE  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  scrofula 
first  originated,  and  still  continues  to  be  produced 
by  the  confined  air,  sedentary  habits,  irregularity 
of  clothing,  and  derangement  of  the  digestive  or- 
gans, so  prevalent  in  civic  life.  The  surface  of 
the  body  is  rendered  peculiarly  susceptible  of  at- 
mospheric impressions;  and  as  aerial  transitions  are 
remarkably  frequent  and  abrupt,  in  this  climate, 
so  the  glands  and  absorbent  vessels  are  constantly 
disturbed  in  thvir  functions,  and  their  structure  ul- 
timately suffers.  Thus  are  produced  the  external 
or  visible  forms  of  scrofula,  which  are  but  too  fa- 
miliar to  every  eye.  Yet  these  are  trifling,  when 
compared  with  the  internal  ravages  of  the  disease. 
The  external  forms  having  been  induced  by  the 
causes  enumerated  above,  an  hereditary  disposition 


76 

to  the  complaint  is  afterwards  transmitted  from  pa- 
rent to  progeny.  It  now  manifests  itself  in  the 
lungs.  Children,  under  these  circumstances,  will 
be  born  with  the  organ  of  respiration  studded  with 
scrofulous  tubercles,  smaller  than  the  finest  grains 
of  sand  ;  and  these  may  lie  dormant  and  harmless 
during  the  longest  life,  if  they  aro  not  excited  into 
action  by  the  various  causes  alluded  to,  and  parti- 
cularly by  the  impressions  of  the  atmosphere  on 
the  surface  of  the  body.  When  we  become  ener- 
vated by  a  civic  life,  these  impressions  act  with 
redoubled  force,  and  then  pulmonary  consumption 
is  developed  with  all  its  slow  but  fatal  ravages  on 
the  human  constitution ! 

To  obviate  these  melancholy  consequences,  the 
children  of  citizens  should  be  early  accustomed  to 
bear  the  vicissitudes  of  our  climate,  by  taking  eve- 
ry opportunity  of  bringing  them  into  the  open  air 
of  the  country,  or  the  vicinity  of  town.  They  should 
be  clothed  uniformly,  but  not  too  warmly ;  for  by 
this  ill  judged  advice  more  injury  than  good  is 
done.  The  cold,  or  shower  bath,  should  be  early 
commenced,  and  long  persevered  in,  as  it  is  the 
grand  agent  in  fortifying  the  constitution  against 
the  changes  of  the  climate  ;  while  the  digestive  or- 


77 

gans  should  be  particularly  attended  to,  so  that  no 
irritation  may  be  propagated  from  thence  to  the 
lungs  or  glandular  system. 

It  is  but  justice  to  observe  that  the  soldier,  the 
sailor,  and  the  peasant,  have  not  greatly  the  ad- 
vantage of  the  citizen,  in  respect  to  immunity  from 
pulmonary  consumption ;  for  the  great  and  frequent 
exposures  of  the  three  former  classes  to  the  rude  in- 
clemencies of  the  skies,  make  serious  depredations 
on  the  lungs,  and  probably  occasion  as  wide  a 
range  of  mortality  among  them,  as  the  luxurious 
and  refined  habits  produce  in  civic  society.  Here 
then  the  balance  of  enjoyment  and  suffering  hangs 
pretty  nearly  in  equilibria  ;  but  it  might  be  made 
to  preponderate  in  favour  of  the  citizen,  were  he 
to  adopt  the  suggestions  contained  in  various  parts 
of  this  essay. 


CHAPTER  II. 


INFLUENCE  OF  CIVIC  LIFE,  SEDENTARY  HABITS,  AND  IN- 
TELLECTUAL  REFINEMENT,  ON  THE  ANIMAL  OR  MUS- 
CULAR SYSTEM. 


WE  now  come  to  that  division  of  the  human 
frame  which  consists  of  the  muscles  that  are  entire- 
ly under  the  subjection  of  the  will.  It  is  a  certain 
and  well  ascertained  fact,  that  the  more  a  volunta- 
ry muscle  is  exercised,  within  the  bounds  of  mo- 
deration, the  stronger  and  larger  it  will  become. 
This  is  exemplified  in  the  arms  of  blacksmiths,  or 
goldbeaters,  and  in  the  legs  of  chairmen,  or  port- 
ers ;  which  members  are  more  developed  in  growth 
and  strength  than  the  other  parts  of  the  body.  The 
converse  of  this  position  is  equally  true ;  inaction 
will  render  a  muscle  pale,  flabby,  weak,  and  cause 
it  to  shrink.  The  author  of  this  essay  lately  am- 
putated a  boy's  thigh,  who  had  been  confined  two 


79 


or  three  years  to  one  position,  by  a  dreadful  state 
of  disease  in  the  knee  and  leg.  Not  a  single  mus- 
cular fibre  was  to  be  seen,  and  the  surface  of  the 
stump  presented  one  uniform  appearance,  like  the 
brawn  of  pork  !  The  poor  little  fellow  perfectly  re- 
covered.* 

From  these  facts  we  may  form  some  idea  of  the 
debility  and  relaxation,  which  must  be  induced 
throughout  the  muscular  systems  of  people  congre- 
gated in  large  cities,  cooped  up  in  confined  apart- 
ments, and  employed  in  sedentary  occupations, 
without  adequate  air  or  exercise.  The  physical 
effects  resulting  from  these  causes  are  so  glaring 
and  conspicuous  in  every  street  through  which  we 
pass  ;  in  every  house,  or  manufactory,  which  we 
enter ;  in  almost  every  individual  whom  we  con- 
template, that  the  medical  philosopher  is  struck 
with  the  enormity  of  the  evil !  How  would  the  pale, 
the  puny,  and  the  sedentary  artizan  of  this  metro- 
polis look,  if  robed  in  the  armour  of  Bruce,  writh 
the  bow  of  Ulysses  in  his  hand  ?  How  would  he 
groan  beneath  the  pressure  of  the  one,  and  tug,  in 
vain,  to  bend  the  other  ! 


*  See  the  5th  vol.  Medico-Chirurgical  Journal  and  Review,  whe^e 
this  curious  case  is  related. 


80 


Was  it  the  sires  of  such  as  these, 

Who  dared  the  elements  and  pathless  seas, 

Who  made  proud  Asian  monarchs  feel, 

Ho'vv  weak  their  gold  was  against  Europe's  steel, 

Or  being's  of  another  mould  ? 

Hough,  hardy,  vigorous,  manly,  bold.11 

This  debility  of  muscle  is  a  very  prominent  trait 
in  the  physical  character  of  civic  life,  and  operates 
with  great,  and  decisively  injurious  influence,  not 
only  on  various  functions  of  the  body,  but,  through 
the  medium  of  the  nervous  system,  on  the  mind 
itself!  Corporeal  inertion  is  at  once  a  cause  and  a 
consequence  of  this  muscular  weakness ;  and  as  a 
due  action  of  the  voluntary  muscles  lends  infinite 
assistance  to  the  heart  and  arteries,  in  circulating 
the  blood ;  to  the  absorbent  vessels,  in  taking  up 
the  various  fluids ;  and  to  the  different  glandular 
organs  in  secreting  what  is  necessary  or  unne- 
cessary to  the  system,  so  a  deficiency  of  exer- 
cise cramps  and  confines  all  those  functions,  and 
mainly  contributes  to  that  paleness  or  sallowness 
of  the  countenance,  languor  of  mind  and  body,  ti- 
midity, nervousness,  accumulations  of  fat  in  the 
abdomen,  or  dropsical  swellings  in  the  limbs,  pal- 
pitations of  the  heart,  head-aches,  in  short,  to  that 
tout  ensemble,  which  distinguishes  the  sedentary 
citizen  from  the  laborious  peasant. 


81 


What  is  the  remedy  ?  "  there  is  no  remedy," 
says  the  inhabitant  of  the  city.  "  I  have  neither 
time  nor  place  for  exercise  and  fresh  air ;  my  busi- 
ness confines  me,  and  there  is  no  alternative/'  Yet 
I  have  observed  through  life,  that  if  a  man  have 
but  the  willy  he  may  soon  have  the  power  to  do  al- 
most any  thing.  There  is  hardly  a  merchant, 
tradesman,  or  mechanic,  within  the  sound  of  Bow 
bells,  who  may  not  take  sufficient  air  and  exercise 
for  the  preservation  of  health,  provided  he  has  a 
proper  degree  of  determination  so  to  do.  Few 
there  are  who  cannot  spare  an  hour,  either  early  in 
the  morning,  late  at  night,  or  at  some  period  of  the 
day,  to  emerge  from  the  midst  of  noise  and  smoke 
into  the  nearest  point  of  open  space,  there  to  stretch 
his  muscles  by  active  exercise,  and  fill  his  lungs 
with  wholesome  air.  Where  this  cannot  be  done, 
exercise  may  be  taken  within  doors,  by  going  up 
and  down  stairs,  using  the  dumb  bells,  &c.  Where 
the  valetudinarian  is  unable  to  take  pedestrian  ex- 
ercise, and  cannot  afford  a  horse  or  carriage,  the 
swing  offers  a  tolerable  substitute.  In  short,  any 
man  who  will  have  a  little  energy  of  mind,  may 
contrive  to  exercise  the  body,  to  a  considerable  ex- 
tent, even  were  he  within  the  walls  of  a  prison.  To 
the  affluent  I  would  recommend  more  horse  and 
L 


82 


carriage  exercise  than  they  now  take.  It  would 
counteract  a  host  of  those  maladies,  which  their 
other  deviations  from  a  state  of  nature  induce.  In 
my  work  on  Atmospheric  Influence,  I  have  dedi- 
cated a  wrhole  section  to  the  subject  of  passive  ex- 
ercise, in  which  the  invalid  will  find  important  in- 
formation, and  to  whose  serious  perusal  1  beg  leave 
to  recommend  it.  The  cold  bath  supplies,  in  a 
very  considerable  degree,  the  want  of  regular  ex- 
ercise. Where  there  is  no  organ  deranged  in  struc- 
ture, this  substitute  may  be  resorted  to  at  almost 
any  period  of  life. 

The  balance  of  enjoyment  and  suffering,  in  the 
muscular  system,  is,  upon  the  whole,  I  think,  in 
favour  of  labour,  and  against  indolence.  Fatigue 
is  at  all  times  preferable  to  ennui.  To  the  former, 
sleep,  "  tir'd  nature's  kind  restorer/'  offers  her 
oblivious  opiate  of  repose.  To  the  latter,  night 
brings  only  a  scene  of  feverish  restlessness,  or 
frightful  dreams ! 

Labor  ipse  voluptas. 


83 


CHAPTER  III. 


INFLUENCE  OF  CIVIC  LIFE,  SEDENTARY  HABITS,  AND  IN- 
TELLECTUAL REFINEMENT,  ON  THE  BRAIN,  AND  NER- 
VOUS SYSTEM. 


IT  is  by  the  brain,  or  organ  of  thought,  that  man 
is  distinguished  and  raised  above  all  other  animals. 
The  nerves  of  sense,  by  which  impressions  are  con- 
veyed to  this  organ,  are  not  so  acute  in  the  lord  of 
the  creation,  as  in  many  of  the  inferior  orders  of 
animated  beings.  He  is  surpassed  by  the  eagle  in 
sight,  by  the  dog  in  smelling,  by  the  hare  in  hearing, 
and  by  almost  all  animals  in  taste;  strange  and  in- 
credible as  this  may  seem  to  some  of  our  epicurean 
connoisseurs  !  Yet  there  is  a  spark,  I  trust  an  in- 
extinguishable spark,  in  the  sensorium  of  man, 
which  radiates  the  light  of  reason  in  every  direc- 
tion, and  proclaims  its  superiority  over  instinct,  by 
tokens  which  none  but  the  marble-hearted  materi- 
alist can  fail  to  recognize.  True  it  is,  and  melan- 


84 


choly  is  this  truth,  that  man,  as  a  free  and  respon- 
sible agent,  often  breaks  through  the  admonitory 
barriers  of  reason,  and  plunges  in  the  ocean  of 
folly,  or  vice,  or  crime,  till  "  the  divinity  that  stirs 
within  him,"  can  no  longer  manifest  itself!  But 
for  this  he  suffers  ;  even  in  this  world  he  is  punish- 
ed for  every  imprudence  ;  and,  probably,  expiates 
here  every  iota  of  his  guilt 

But  to  return.  When  the  human  species  began 
to  congregate  in  cities,  it  was  soon  perceived  that 
in  this  class  of  society,  the  exertion  of  the  intellect 
must  predominate  over  that  of  the  body.  As  civi- 
lization advanced,  intellectual  labour  became  more 
necessary,  and  the  labourers  multiplied  in  propor- 
tion. At  the  present  period,  the  employment  of  a 
very  large  class  of  human  beings,  especially  in 
civic  life,  consists  almost  exclusively  in  mental  ex- 
ertion. Look  at  the  rulers  of  countries  ;  the  legis- 
lators, with  their  innumerable  hosts  of  agents  and 
sub-agents ;  the  members  of  the  pulpit;  the  bar ;  the 
medical  world ;  the  literary  world ;  the  superior 
orders  of  the  mercantile  world.  In  all  these  men- 
tal labour  is  the  regular  duty,  and  corporeal  ex- 
ertion only  the  occasional  relaxation.  Nay,  in 
the  vast  body  of  mechanics  and  artists  them- 


85 

selves,  thought  predominates  over  action.  Even  the 
semi-feminine  man- milliner,  who  measures  out  our 
ribbon  or  lace,  depends  more  on  his  talents,  that 
is,  on  the  volubility  of  his  tongue,  than  on  the  agi- 
lity of  his  muscles,  for  success  in  business.  To 
such  an  extent  is  intellectual  labour  now  arri- 
ved, that  a  very  large  and  important  class  of  soci- 
ety, live  entirely  by  "  teaching  the  young  ideas 
how  to  shoot ;"  and  a  still  larger  class,  who  have 
no  actual  occupation,  rack  their  minds  with  inven- 
tions, schemes,  and  projects  that  fade  away  as  fast 
as  they  are  engendered. 


Now  1  have  before  shewn  that  the  more  a  volun- 
tary muscle  is  exercised,  within  a  reasonable  limit, 
the  stronger  and  more  capable  of  exertion  it  be- 
comes: it  is  so  with  the  brain  and  nervous  system; 
the  more  their  faculties  are  brought  into  play,  with- 
in a  certain  bound  of  moderation,  the  more  exten- 
sive becomes  the  sphere  of  their  power.  The  sense 
of  touch,  the  sense  of  smell,  and  the  sense  of  hear- 
ing, all  become  more  acute,  in  proportion  as  they 
are  exercised.  But  this  extra  developement  and 
sensibility  of  the  brain  and  nervous  system,  cannot 
take  place  but  at  the  expense  of  some  function,  or 
structure,  in  the  animal  or  organic  system  5  for  na 


86 


ture,  though  sufficiently  liberal,  is,  upon  the  whole, 
very  economical  of  her  gifts,  and  extremely  impar- 
tial in  the  distribution  of  her  favours.  When,  there- 
fore, an  undue  share  of  the  vital  energy  of  any  in- 
dividual is  directed  to  a  particular  organ  or  system, 
a  proportionate  subduction  is  made  from  some  other 
organ  or  system,  and  this  is  a  most  undoubted,  and 
a  most  important  truth,  which  is  little  understood, 
and  less  attended  to  by  the  world  in  general.  Ex- 
amples meet  the  eye  at  every  step ;  one  or  two  may 
suffice.  A  man  devotes  his  whole  soul  to  study,  or 
mental  exertion,  in  any  way,  whether  literary,  po- 
litical, military,  commercial,  or  mechanical.  Ex- 
amine that  man  minutely ;  you  will  find  him  thin 
and  sallow,  with  weak  digestive  organs,  and  quick- 
ness or  irritability  of  nerve.  This  is  the  man  for 
deeds  of  "bold  emprize !"  He  is  such  a  man  as 
tyrants  like  not  near  their  thrones.  What  said 
Csesar  to  a  man  of  this  description? 

"  Would  he  were  fatter.' 

For,   if  my  name  were  liable  to  fear, 

I  do  not  know  the  man  I  should  avoid, 

So  SOOH  as  that  spare  Gassius.     He  reads  much, 

He  is  a  great  observer,  and  he  looks 

Quite  through  the  deeds  of  men." 

Bonaparte  was  thin  and  sallow,  till  the  "  work- 
ings  of  his  mind,"  so  deranged  the  functions  of  the 


87 

liver  and  digestive  organs,  that  he  became  bloated. 
He  will  soon  die  dropsical.  Wellington  is  thin  and 
sallow  ;  but  his  frame  of  mind  is  happy;  his  career 
of  glory  unclouded.  He  mingles  active  exercise 
with  intellectual  labour;  and  he  will  live  long  his 
country's  pride. 

Let  us  look,  on  the  other  hand,  to  those  who 
cultivate,  with  assiduity,  the  noble  art  of  eating. 
In  these  the  stomach  and  neighbouring  organs  be- 
come the  great  foci  of  the  vital  energy  of  the  sys- 
tem. Here  the  organic  life  predominates  over  the 
animal  and  intellectual  lives.  The  digestive  or- 

o 

gaiis,  in  fact,  among  such  people,  form  the  "  seat 
of  the  soul/'  instead  of  the  Pineal  gland  of  De- 
scartes, and  consequently  the  brain,  the  nerves, 
and  the  muscles,  are  deprived  of  their  due  propor- 
tion of  vitality.  This  did  not  escape  the  Poet  of 
Nature,  though  he  knew  not  in  what  way  it  was 
produced. 


"  Fat  paunches  have  lean  pates,  and  dainty  bits 
Make  rich  the  sides,  but  banker  out  the  wits." 


The  above  preliminary  view  of  the  subject  shews 
us,  at  once,  the  necessity  and  the  importance  of  pre- 
serving a  harmonious  balance  between  the  three 


88 

great  systems  which  compose  the  human  fabric— 
the  intellectual,  the  organic,  and  the  animal  sys- 
tems. Health  and  happiness  depend  on  a  just 
equilibrium  between  the  functions  of  these  three 
systems ;  and  whenever  one  is  too  much  exercised, 
or  too  much  pampered,  it  must  inevitably  be  at  the 
expense  of  another)  and  disease  and  disquiet  are 
the  certain  results  ! 

When  we  reflect  on  the  complicated  and  minute 
machinery  of  which  the  human  fabric  is  composed ; 
when  we  consider  its  various  ties  and  "  nice  depen- 
dencies," we  shall  be  constrained  to  acknowledge, 
that  no  trifling  discrimination  is  necessary  in  adjust- 
ing its  erratic  movements!  What  mischief  then 
must  every  day  be  done  by  the  rude  hand  of  the 
ignorant  pretender  to  so  difficult  a  science!  Could 
the  tomb  open  its  "  marble  jaws,"  and  disclose  the 
secrets  which  are  there  locked  in  impenetrable 
night,  it  would  doubtless — 


a  tale  unfold 


Whose  lightest  word  would  harrow  up  the  soul ! 
But  this  eternal  blazon  must  not  be 


89 


SECTION  I. 


INFLUENCE  OF  CIVIC  LIFE,  ETC.  ON  THE  BRAIN  AND  NER- 
VOUS SYSTEM,  THROUGH  THE  MEDIUM  OF  THE  DIGES- 
TIVE  ORGANS. 


THE  intimate  sympathy  which  subsists  between 
the  stomach  and  the  head,  has  been  observed  hi 
all  ages  ;  and,  in  fact,  is  well  known  to  every  in- 
dividual, by  that  common  complaint — a  sick  head- 
ache. Whether  this  sympathy  takes  place  through 
the  medium  of  the  blood-vessels,  or  nerves,  or 
both  (which  is  more  probable),  we  cannot  tell;  but 
it  is  sufficient  that  we  are  assured  of  the  fact.  A 
similar  sympathy  obtains  between  the  brain  and 
liver,  as  is  exemplified  by  blows  on  the  head  pro- 
ducing abscess  in  the  biliary  organ ;  and  obstruc- 
tions of  the  liver  causing  the  most  tormenting  head- 
aches. Now,  when  we  reflect  on  the  numerous 
causes,  already  traced,  of  derangement  in  the  sto- 
mach, liver,  and  other  digestive  organs,  arising  out 
M 


90 


of  civic  life,  and  all  its  consequences/  can  we  won- 
der at  their  effects  on  the'  brain  and  nervous  sys- 
tem, as  evinced  in  the  long  catalogue  of  nervous 
and  hypochondriacal  complaint?,  and  even  of  insa- 
nity itself^  now  so  prevalent  in  civic  life  ? 

We  thus  see  how  the  digestive  organs  repay,  in 
kiim;  the  morbid  influence  and  effects  which  they 
sustain  from  the  brain  and  nervous  system,  through 
the  medium  of- the  passions,  and  intellectual  refine- 
ment. In  fact,  these  two  systems,  like  two  friends 
in  harmonious  co-operation,  mutually  support  each 
oilier,  in  health  ;  but,  in  disease,  like  sworn  ene- 
mies, they  act  and  re- act  upon  one  another,  with 
the  most  destructive  malignity. 

When  the  brain  and  nervous  system  suffer  from 
faults  in  the  digestive  organs,  we  generally  find 
among  the  more  obtrusive  symptoms — head- aches  ; 
either  watchfulness  at  night,  or  too  great  a  disposi- 
tion to  sleep,  especially  after  dinner  (a  symptom  that 
peculiarly  denotes  a  regurghation  of  bile  into  the 
blood,  and  a  deficiency  of  this  fluid  in  the  bowels); 
fickleness  or  irritability  of  temper  ;  unsteadiness  in 
any  pursuit  or  application ;  occasional  dimness  or 
other  affection  of  the  eyes;  disturbed  sleep;  dc- 


91 


spondency;  gloomy  anticipations;  distrust  of,  or 
want  of  conii  deuce  in,  our  best  friends  :  restlessness 
of  disposition ;  and  great  nervous  susceptibility 
on  the  occurrence  of  any  untoward  accident,  or  un- 
expected event  : — these  and  very  many  other  phe- 
nomena indicate  a  disordered  state  of  the  circula- 
tion, and  excitability  in  the  brain  and  nerves,  ari- 
sing from  derangement  of  function  in  the  digestive 


organs. 


To  superficial  observers  these  appear  to  be  moral 
affections,  whereas  they  are,  in  reality,  physical 
evils,  which  are  only  to  be  remedied  or  removed 
by  physical  means.  By  improving  the  state  of  the 
digestive  organs,  we  remove  a  load  from  the  brain 
and  nerves ;  and  a  total  revolution  in  the  frame  of 
mind  is  thus  produced,  in  a  few  weeks,  by  agents 
whose  operations  ^.re  supposed  to  be  exclusively 
confined  to  the  corporeal  fabric. 

And  it  must  ever  be  borne  in  mind,  that,  when 
the  above-mentioned  disordered  state  of  the  brain 
and  nervous  system  has  been  originally  induced  by 
moral  causes,  as  grief,  disappointment,  &c.  the  de- 
rangement which  thence  ensues  to  the  digestive  or- 
gans, keeps  up,  or  perpetuates,  the  evil,  long  after 


92 


the  moral  causes  are  themselves  removed :  for  un- 
fortunately, in  diseases,  efficts  do  not  always  dis- 
*  appear  with  their  causes.    There  is  another  impor- 
tant consideration  connected  with  the  present  sub- 
ject : — we  all  know  how  little  control  we  possess 
over  moral  or  mental  impressions.    The  loss  of  a 
husband  or  wife,  of  a  parent  or  child,  cannot  be 
erased  from  the  memory  by  the  most  powerful  elo- 
quence, or  soothing  friendship.     But  the  effects  of 
these  depressing  passions  on  the  digestive  organs, 
and  the  reaction  on  the  intellectual  system  which 
ensues,  may  be   greatly  counteracted  by  physical 
means,  and  the  melancholy  mental  emotions  there- 
by surprisingly  lessened  in  intensity,  and  shortened 
in  duration.     This  is  a  fact  which  is  little  under- 
stood, and  almost  totally  overlooked  by  Philoso- 
pher, Physician,  and  Patient ;  yet  it  is  one  of  high 
import,  and  of  direct  application  to  the  purposes  of 
life, 


93 


SUBSECTION  I. 


Influence  of  Civic  Life,  tgc.  on  the  Brain  and 
Nervous  System,  through  the  Medium  of  the 
Liver  in  particular. 

DURING  the  last  fifteen  years,  I  have  traced,  with 
great  care,  the  influence  of  a  deranged  state  of  the 
liver  and  biliary  secretion  on  the  brain  and  nervous 
system,  both  in  my  own  person  and  those  of  others ; 
and  the  result  is,  a  conviction  that  the  extent  of 
this  influence  is  infinitely  greater  than  the  world  is 
aware  of.  The  idea  of  the  ancients,  respecting  the 
origin  of  melancholy  and  insanity  in  black  bile 
was  not  entirely  chimerical ;  and,  in  modern  times, 
Pinel  and  a  few  others  have  brought  forward  facts 
that  strongly  countenance  the  supposition.  That  a 
disordered  state  of  the  biliary  organ  produces  an 
irregular  distribution  of  the  blood  and  nervous  en- 
ergy in  the  brain,  I  am  as  well  convinced  as  of  my 
own  existence ;  for  so  certainly  does  the  mental  in- 
dex point  to  the  corporeal  derangement,  that  1  am 


94 


warned  of  the  latter  by  my  waking  trains  of  (ho 
nay,  even  by  the  tenour  of  my  dreams.  When  the 
biliary  derangement  arises  to  any  height,  the  spring 
of  .my  mental  energy  is  lost,  and  every  where  dif- 
fii -<lf"^-,  like  "hills  over  hills  and  Alps  on  Alps," 
arise  to  embarrass  my  pursuits  and  defeat  my  ob- 
!  1  am  quite  satisfied  that  many  important 
events  in  a  man's  life,  which  are  usually  attributed 
to  moral  causes,  have  hinged  on  material  ones ; 
and  that  not  a  day  passes  in  which  we  do  not  see — 


-enterprizes  of  vast  pith  and  moment, 


In  this  respect  their  currents  turn  awry, 
And  lose  the  name  of  action. 

In  civilized  society  thousands  moulder  away 
their  lives  in  mental  torpor  and  apathy,  who,  by  a 
proper  attention  to  the  functions  of  the  liver  and  di- 
gestive organs,  would  soon  evince  an  energy  of 
mind  and  activity  of  body  that  might  render  them 
useful,  if  not  distinguished  members  of  the  commu- 
nity. 

But  this  is  not  all.  Conjugal  and  domestic  hap- 
piness is  every  day  blighted  and  turned  into  misery 
by  irritability  of  temper,  resulting,  unequivocally, 
from  derangement  of  the  biliary  and  digestive  or- 


95 


gans,  while  the  cause  is  supposed  to  be  of  a  moral 
nature,  ami  consequently  the  proper  remedies  to- 
tally neglected.  There  is  indeed  another  unsus- 
pected source  of  this  evil,  of  which  I  may  take 
some  notice  on  a  future  occasion.  Meantime  I  may 
state,  that,  whenever  a  change  in  the  temper  or  mind 
of  a  man  or  woman  takes  place,  without  a  plain 
and  manifest  moral  cause,  the  condition  of  the  liver 
and  digestive  organs  should  be  minutely  examined 
and  accurately  ascertained;  for  there  the  origin  of 
the  mischief  will,  three  times  out  of  four,  be  disco- 
vered :  nay,  where  the  mental  disturbance  has  evi- 
dently arisen  out  of  circumstances  quite  foreign  to 
corporfal  ailments,  it  will  be  found  that  the  latter 
have  quickly  supervened,  and  are  perpetuating,  if 
not  aggravating  the  evil. 

The  remedies  are  aperient  medicines ;  particu- 
larly the  aloetic,  mercurial,  and  antimonial  kind, 
with  decoction  of  sarsaparilla,  Harrowgate  water, 
and  the  nitro- muriatic  acid  bath,  varied  and  appor- 
tioned according  to  the  peculiarity  of  the  constitu- 
tion, and  the  nature  and  degree  of  the  biliary  de- 
rangement. 


SUBSECTION  II. 

Influence  of  Civic  Life,  Sedentary  Habits,  $'c. 
on  the  Brain  and  Nervous  by  stem,  through  the 
Medium  of  the  Heart. 

I  HAVE  already  shewn  the  powerful  influence 
which  mental  emotions  exert  on  the  action  of  the 
heart.  When  the  functions,  and  particularly  when 
the  structure  of  this  organ  become  deranged,  they 
exercise  a  reciprocal  influence  on  the  organ  of  the 
mind ;  that  is,  on  the  brain  and  nervous  system. 
The  character  of  this  influence  assimilates  very 
much  with  that  resulting  from  derangement  of  the 
liver  and  digestive  organs,  particularly  in  respect 
to  mental  despondency.  Among  the  numerous  ca- 
ses of  disease  of  the  heart  which  have  fallen  un- 
der my  observation,  I  never  knew  one  unaccompa- 
nied by  mental  despondency.  Indeed,  there  is  a 
cast  of  countenance  attending  this  melancholy  class 
of  human  afflictions,  which  speaks  more  than  words 
to  the  discriminating  and  experienced  eye ;  and 


97 


leads  the  intelligent  physician,  at  once  to  the  true 
seat  of  the  disorder.  The  depression  of  spirits  re- 
sulting from  affections  of  the  heart,  is  often  of  the 
deepest  hue;  and  I  have  known  two  instances  where 
it  led  to  suicide.  I  am  strongly  disposed  to  believe 
that  this  unnatural  crime,  is  frequently  the  conse- 
quence of  the  disease  under  consideration. 

It  is  of  the  utmost  importance  to  distinguish  de- 
rangements of  the  heart  from  derangements  of  the 
liver,  or  digestive  organs,  since  the  treatment  is 
very  different.  A  minute  investigation  of  all  the 
phenomena,  aided  by  thoracic  percussion  and  ab- 
dominal compression,  will  generally  unveil  the 
true  nature  of  the  complaint. 


N 


SECTION  II. 


INFLUENCE  OP  CIVIC  LIFE,  ETC.  ON  THE  BRAIN  AND  NER- 
VOUS SYSTEM,  THROUGH  THE  MEDIUM  OF  THE  PAS- 
SIONS. 


Civic  life,  by  rendering  the  senses  more  acute, 
makes  the  passions  more  ungovernable  than  in  ru- 
ral retirement.  In  congregated  masses  of  society, 
every  kind  of  food  for  the  passions  is  not  only  su- 
perabundant in  quantity,  but  of  the  most  stimula- 
ting quality.  Hence,  among  a  very  considerable 
class  in  the  upper  walks  of  life,  we  find  an  unna- 
tural and  insalutary  degree  of  excitement,  kept  up 
in  the  brain  and  nervous  system  from  this  prolific 
source.  The  extent  of  injury,  which  our  health 
sustains  in  this  way  is  beyond  all  calculation ! 
Plato  believed,  that  "  omnia  corporis  mala  ab  an- 
ima procedere;"  "all  diseases  of  the  body  proceed- 
ed from  the  mind,  or  soul,"  and  certainly  a  great 
proportion  of  them  do !  Here  we  cannot  fail  to  per- 
ceive the  great  analogy  which  obtains  between  the 


99 


state  of  the  digestive  organs  and  that  of  the  nervous 
system,  in  civic  and  luxurious  life.  The  one  is 
over-excited  by  too  much  and  too  stimulating^/botZ/ 
the  other,  by  excess  in  the  passions.  The  derange- 
ments resulting  from  each  set  of  causes  act  and  re- 
act, directly  or  indirectly,  on  both  systems;  and 
thus  it  is  that  we  never  see  a  morbid  condition  of 
the  nervous  system  unconnected  with  a  similar  con- 
dition of  the  digestive  organs,  and  vice  versa. 


The  over-action  of  the  principal  passions  on 
brain  and  nerves,  closely  resembles  the  over-ac- 
tion of  food  and  drink  on  the  stomach  and  other 
digestive  organs,  in  many  minute  particulars,  and 
especially  by  attracting  an  undue  proportion  of 
blood  to  the  over-excited  parts.  The  whole  of  the 
phenomena  attending  the  Proteian  host  of  nervous 
diseases,  and  all  the  most  successful  methods  of 
treatment,  attest  that  their  immediate  seat,  or 
source,  is,  an  unequal  distribution  of  the  blood, 
and  of  the  sensibility.  The  brain  and  nerves,  be- 
coming more  irritable,  from  over-excitement  by  the 
passions,  their  vessels  swell  with  blood,  and  this 
local  turgidity  causes  a  constant  pressure  on,  and 
keeps  up  a  perpetual  irritation  in,  the  whole  ner- 
vous system.  This  is  a  doctrine  which,  though 


100 


deduced  from  actual  observation  and  experience,  is 
far  wide  of  the  popular  belief,  and  but  little  diffused 
in  the  medical  world  itself.  It  is  such  importance, 
however,  ami  opens  out  so  much  better  a  practice 
than  is  generally  pursued,  that  I  shall  go  some- 
what into  detail,  in  order  to  elucidate  it. 

Let  us  single  out  a  few  of  the  more  prominent 
forms  of  diseases,  affecting  the  brain  and  nervous 
system,  in  order  to  investigate  their  nature  and  treat- 
ment. Excepting  mania,  (to  which  indeed  it  oft- 
en leads,)  there  is  no  affliction,  in  this  class,  more 
terrible  to  the  sight,  or  more  disastrous  to  the  hu- 
man intellect  in  its  consequences,  than  epilipsy. 
Now  the  original  seat  of  this  disease  may  be,  and 
usually  is,  in  some  organ,  or  part,  at  a  distance 
from  the  head ;  for  nine  patients  out  of  ten,  feel  a 
premonitory  sensation  (called  the  Aura  Epileptica) 
creeping,  or  darting  from  the  remote  part  to  the 
brain,  where,  when  it  arrives,  it  produces  the  con- 
vulsive attack.  The  seat  of  this  irritation  is  general- 
ly in  the  liver,  digestive  organs,  or  genital  system ; 
but  sometimes  in  other  parts.  While  this  irritation 
remains  in  its  common  domicile,  the  brain  and  ner- 
vous system  have  an  immunity  from  disturbance ; 
but  unfortunately  it  has  a  character  of  mobility, 


101 


like  the  irritation  of  gout,  (with  which  it  is  often  row- 
plicated,)  and  when  from  any  cause  the  brain  and 
nervous  system  become  predisposed  ;  that  is,  weak- 
ened, or  impaired,  in  their  functions,  the  epileptic 
irritation  is  transferred,  from  time  to  time,  to  the 
head  and  spine,  when  an  instantaneous  rush  of 
blood  to  these  parts  succeeds,  and  epileptic. strug- 
gle follows.  Even  when  an  organic  disease  of 
the  brain,  or  spinal  marrow,  determines  epilepsy, 
it  is  only  when  an  excess  of  irritation  and  blood 
accumulates  in  these  organs,  that  the  convulsions 
take  place.  The  organic  disease  must  be  con- 
stantly present;  yet  the  epileptic  paroxysm  only 
occurs  occasionally  ;  a  convincing  proof  that  the  di- 
cease  depends  on  a  temporary  super-excitement  of 
the  nervous,  and  turgidity  of  the  blood-vessel  sys- 
tem. 

When  the  original  seat  of  the  epileptic  irritation 
is  at  a  distance  from  the  head,  as  in  the  liver,  or 
digestive  organs,  yet  repetitions  of  this  determina- 
tion to  the  brain  and  spine,  mast  sooner  or  later  in- 
duce organic  disease  there.  Dissection  has  always 
proved  this  ;  and  I  may  refer  to  a  remarkable  case. 
which  fell  under  my  own  observation,  and  is  pub- 
lished in  the  October  (1818)  Number  of  the  Mecli- 


102 


co-Chirurgical  Journal,  for  a  memorable  illustra- 
tion. 

This  view  of  the  subject  leads  to  most  important 
indications  in  the  treatment  and  prevention  of  this 
afflicting  malady.  What  would  naturally  present 
itself  as  the  first  ?  Why  to  search  out  the  seat  of 
the  distant  irritation,  which  radiates  on  the  brain 
at  intervals,  and  endeavour  to  remove  it.  If  this 
cannot  be  done,  the  next  object  is  to  jix  the  irrita- 
tion there,  or  in  some  other  unimportant  part.  The 
third  indication  is  to  strengthen  the  nervous  and 
intellectual  system,  by  avoiding  an  undue  exercise 
of  the  passions,  or  strong  mental  emotions.  The 
fourth,  or  preventive  indication,  is,  to  lower  the  ful- 
ness of  the  blood  vessels,  by  spare  diet  and  various 
evacuations.  These  are  tho  means  by  which  I  have 
often  succeeded,  and  by  which  we  may  often  suc- 
ceed, in  lengthening  the  intervals  of  epileptic  at- 
tacks, if  not  of 'entirely  checking  their  progress.* 

The  same  reasoning  will  apply  to  hysteria.  There 
is  here  some  local  irritation,  or  some  local  torpor 

*  See  the  sf  ction  on  epilepsy,  in  my  work  on  "the  Influence  of  the 
Atmosphere,"  where  I  have  pointed  out  a  new  remedy  for  this  disease, 
from  the  use  of  which  I  have  seen  the  greatest  benefit  derived. 


103 


(for  opposite  extremes  often]  produce  the  same  ef- 
fect) in  an  organ  remote  from, the  head,  generally 
in  the  uterine  system ;  and  when,  at  any  time,  the 
irritation  shifts  its  seat  to  the  Irain,  a  congestion  of 
blood  in  the  vessels  of  this  orsran  is  the  immediate 

o 

consequence,  and  the  hysterical  paroxysm  ensues. 
The  whole  farrago  of  antispasmodic  medicines,  ex- 
hibited in  this  complaint,  produce  no  other  effect, 
than  occasionally  to  irritate  the  stomach,  bowels, 
or  uterine  system,  and  thus  recall  the  blood  and  ir- 
ritability from  the  head.  These  effects  might  be 
induced  by  much  more  simple  and  much  more  per- 
manently beneficial  means. 

MANIA  is  another  modification  of  corporeal  de- 
rangement (for  it  is  strictly  and  essentially  a  bodily 
disease)  originally  induced  by  repeated  irritations 
and  congestions  of  blood  in  the  head,  resulting 
from  undue  exercise  of  the  passions ;  stimulating 
food  and  drink,  and  all  those  various  causes  which 
lead  to  derangement  in  the  digestive  organs,  to  gout, 
&c.  The  changes  that  precede  this  worst  of  human 
afflictions  are  always  slow,  and  often  imperceptible 
to  any  but  the  experienced  eye  of  the  medical  ob- 
server. How  frequently  does  this  cruel  enemy  ad- 
vance, at  first,  under  the  guise  of  a  little  qtiick- 


104 


ness  or  irascibility  of  temper ;  shewing  the  increas- 
ing morbid  sensibility  of  the  brain  and  nerves. 
Next  we  see  higher  gusts  of  passion,  upon  trifling 
occasions  than  the  individual  was  accustomed  to 
evince ;  always  attended  with  a  rush  of  blood  to 
the  head,  which  is  visible  in  the  face  and  eyes. 
Every  rush  of  this  kind  leaves  the  irritability  of 
the  brain  more  acute  than  before,  and  consequently 
predisposes  to  a  repetition  of  the  occurrence. 

In  this  state  the  patient  may  go  on  for  years,  un- 
suspicious of  the  growing  evil.  At  length  these  re- 
peated disturbances  of  function  in  the  intellectual 
organ,  begin  to  produce  slight  derangements  of 
structure  in  a  part  of  such  delicate  texture.  Then 
the  judgment,  which  was  hitherto  unimpaired, 
loses  its  balance,  as  is  evinced  by  whims,  antipa- 
thies, capricious  attachments,  peculiarity  of  opini- 
ons, religious  enthusiasm,  and  a  thousand  other 
slight  alterations  from  previous  strength  of  mind. 
The  corporeal  derangement  advances  another  step  ; 
and  now  a  window  of  the  soul  is  shut !  a  dark  spot 
is  but  too  plainly  perceptible  in  the  manifestation 
of  the  mind  ;  an  erroneous  idea  is  formed  on  some 
particular  subject,  and  to  this  the  patient  clings 
with  invincible  obstinacy,  although  perhaps,  on  all 


165 


other  points,  the  judgment  is  correct.  From  this 
stage,  the  corporeal  disease  and  the  mental  hallu- 
cination advance,  with  equal  steps,  till  the  "  soul's 
dark  cottage"  admits  not  a  single  ray  of  light  from 
without,  nor  emits  a  gleam  of  intelligence  from 
within ! 

Alack,  'tis  he  !  why  he  was  met  even  now 
As  mad  as  the  vex'd  sea ;  sing-ing  uloud  ; 
Crown'd  with  rank  fumiter,   and  furrow  weeds, 
With  harlocs,  hemlock,  nettles,  cuckoo-flowers, 
Darnel,  and  all  the  idle  weeds  that  grow !  LEAR  . 

In  the  various  stages,  from  the  lowest  grade  of 
nervous  irritability  up  to  raging  wild  insanity,  thou- 
sands are  every  day  to  be  seen.  By  far  the  greater 
number,  however,  pass  through  a  <4  feverish  ex<- 
istence,"  without  entering  the  pale  of  what  is  term- 
ed "  mental  alienation  ;"  while  many  are  cut  off  by 
other  and  more  violent  forms  of  the  disease,  as  ap- 
oplexy, palsy,  &c. 

What  is  apoplexy  or  paralysis  but  a  rush  of 
blood  to  the  head,  either  bursting  its  channels  there, 
or  swelling  them  to  such  an  extent  as  to  compress 
the  brain,  and  abolish  sense  or  voluntary  motion  ? 
What  are  the  causes  that  lead  to  this  event  ?  The 
O 


106 


same  which  produce  the  whole  catalogue  of  ner- 
vous affections.  Too  much  food  and  drink,  with 
too  little  exercise ;  too  much  scope  to  the  passions, 
with  too  little  restraint  from  reason  or  religion ;  too 
many  sedentary  hahits  of  body,  with  too  many 
anxieties  of  mind ! 


PREVENTION    OR    CURE. 

Having  pointed  out  the  causes  of  this  formidable 
host  of  enemies  to  civic  life,  the  prevention  must, 
of  necessity,  depend  on  the  patient  himself.  There 
is  a  considerable  proportion  of  my  readers,  who 
will  benefit  by  the  elucidations  here  given,  and  by 
the  rules  which  1  have  laid  down.  But  a  great 
majority  will  pursue  their  course  till  they  are  over- 
taken by  the  consequences.  Then  the  physician 
is  called  in ;  for  strange  as  it  may  appear,  man  will 
rather  take  physic  which  costs  much,  than  advice 
which  costs  nothing.  It  is  fortunate,  however,  that 
medicine  has  greater  power  over  the  class  of  ner- 
vou*  diseases  than  is  commonly  supposed.  They 
have  been  too  long  attributed  to  a  "  distempered 


107 


imagination,"  and  treated  as  *"•  airy  nothings/" 
without  a  "  local  habitation  or  a  name."  But  I 
have  shewn,  that  they  are  real  corporeal  ailments, 
and  of  the  most  painful  kind  too,  inasmuch  as  they 
more  heavily  press  down  the  springs  and  energies 
of  the  mind  than  any  other  class  of  human  afflic- 
tions. % 

Let  it  he  remembered,  that  when  the  circulation 
of  the  blood  and  the  sensibility  of  the  system  expe- 
rience any  irregularity  of  distribution,  the  whole 
frame  seems  to  languish  under  debility  :  for  the  parts 
to  which  too  much  blood  or  irritability  is  directed 
are  not  strengthened ;  while  those  parts  which  are 
deprived  of  their  due  share  must  be  weakened. 
Here  lies  the  ignis  fatuus,  which  so  often  leads 
astray  both  physician  and  patient.  All  the  tonics, 
stimulants,  or  cordials  in  the  world,  will  not  restore 
the  energy  of  the  system,  till  the  equilibrium  of 
the  circulation  and  excitement  is  effected ;  and  this 
must  be  done  either  by  relieving  the  oppressed  parts 
of  their  overplus,  by  evacuations,  local  or  general, 
as  may  be  necessary ;  or  by  determining  the  blood 
and  irritation  to  another  or  other  parts  of  the  sys- 
tem. In  these  two  operations  lies  the  grand  se- 
cret of  treating  nervous  diseases  with  success ;  and 


108 


any  man  who  studies  carefully  the  laws  of  the  ani- 
mal economy,  and  observes  with  accuracy  the  na- 
tural efforts  of  the  constitution,  may  apply  a  very 
few  simple  but  energetic  means,  with  the  greatest 
ease  and  advantage. 

The  brain  and  nerves  must  be  relieved  by  occa- 
sional leeches  to  the  temples,  or  cupping  glasses  to 
the  shoulders.  The  diet  must  be  lessened  and  re- 
gulated; the  bowels  must  be  kept  free;  the  biliary 
secretion  improved;  and  the  circulation  and  excita- 
bility kept  even  and  balanced,  by  the  warm  or  cold 
bath,  according  to  circumstances — by  horse,  car- 
riage, or  pedestrian  exercise — by  regular  hours — 
and  by  governance  of  the  passions. 

This  will  be  considered  a  bold  innovation  by 
those  whose  minds  are  clouded  with  the  inert  phan- 
tasies of  Hoffmanic  spasm,  or  the  delusive  dogmas 
of  Brimoriian  debility.  But  it  is  not  a  doctrine  of 
the  cabinet ;  it  is  the  offspring  of  extensive  obser- 
vation, and  clinical  experience. 


169 


BALANCE   OF   ENJOYMENT     AND     SUFFERING   IN    RE- 
SPECT   TO    THE    INTELLECTUAL    SYSTEM. 


IT  is  extremely  difficult  to  draw  a  parallel  of  en- 
joyment and  suffering,  in  the  intellectual  system 
between  the  upper  and  lower  ranks  of  life.  If,  to 
undergo  much  pain  for  the  sake  of  a  little  pleasure, 
be  a  proof  that  the  balance  is  in  favour  of  the  lat- 
ter, then  the  lean  monde  has  it.  But  if,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  Hindoo  precept,  that  «  rest  is  pre- 
ferable to  action,  sleep  to  waking,  and  death  to  all," 
have  any  foundation  in  reason,  then  a  question  may 
arise,  whether  the  lower  classes  of  society,  who 
have  little  susceptibility  towards  intellectual  plea- 
sures or  pains,  may  not,  upon  the  whole,  claim  the 
balance  of  enjoyment,  in  their  journey  through  the 
present  state  of  existence.  But,  at  all  events,  Na- 
ture has  here,  as  in  most  other  instances,  charita- 
bly ordained  a  surprising  equilibrium.  Sbe  has 
strewed  the  paths  of  rank,  riches,  and  luxury, 
with  a  corresponding  proportion  of  painful  diseas- 


110 

eSj  particularly  of  the  nervous  or  intellectual  sys- 
tem ;  while  the  uncultivated  boor  glides  along,  un- 
conscious of  the  pleasures  and  unacquainted  with 
the  sufferings  which  necessarily  grow  out  of  civic 
society  and  intellectual  refinement.* 

JAMES  JOHNSON. 


*  See  the  Section  on  "  Diseases  of  Literary  Characters,"  in  my  work 
on  "  the  Influence  df  the  Atmosphere  on  Health,"  second  edition,  p.  217, 


THE   END. 


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